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The grandest of intentions
Louder Sound reprints online a Classic Rock short feature on Paice/Ashton/Lord that originally appeared in issue 249 (May 2018) of the magazine.
Paice Ashton Lord are the neglected branch on the Deep Purple family tree. Not surprising, given that their existence amounted to just one studio album and a handful of live gigs. But it started with the grandest of intentions.
When Purple dissolved in 1976, drummer Ian Paice and keyboard player Jon Lord had two choices: they could start a soundalike band, or they could head off in a different direction entirely. “We thought: ‘If we carry on doing what we’d done before, it’ll be likened to Purple and it’ll never be accepted properly,” says Paice. “So we decided to do something completely different.”
Ditching Purple’s Hammond-driven grandeur, the pair envisaged their new endeavour as a hybrid of the blues groups, jazz outfits and big bands they had grown up listening to. The secret ingredient was singer and keyboard player Tony Ashton.
Continue reading in Louder Sound.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Certainly rapt I managed to get the rare live DVD, a wonderful concert, even with Tony’s quirky inebriated performance. Some of the best Ian Paice filmed performances too, all things considered. At the peak of his drumming big time for the ‘big band’ scenario. It also shows a rather good Bernie Marsden all round performance. A good singer was Bernie and as we know a fine guitarist and co- songwriter. Jon Lord is in top form also, they all are, Paul Martinez and the brass section along with the McKinley sisters. One of those classic and rare ‘one-off’ lineups. Cheers.
July 7th, 2026 at 07:32