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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 07:32Great great short lived BAND! Got original LP, Reissue double LP (with half of abandoned 2nd LP included), CD, live CD BBC DVD concert with the famous documenty…OK OK ‘PAL’ was a dog food brand at the time!! Bernie shines as ever not just on guitar but dual vox with Tony! Happy listening guaranteed on evey spin! Cheers – PJ
July 7th, 2026 at 08:21PAL Malice in Wonderland and Ashton/Lord First of the Big Bands are 2 favorites of mine. I have to admit I enjoy the more than most Rainbow and Whitesnake albums!!
July 7th, 2026 at 08:43I absolutely love Paice, Ashton, Lord. They might be neglected in the wide screen of DPF Tree, but musically and in execution their idea was top-notch, reaching to the “Mad Dogs And Englishmen” sonic concept. Live performances by PAL were maybe shaky for obvious reasons of Tony’s not-feel-like a frontman stress, but the studio record is simply excellent, most brilliant as much, as it’s not Purple style at all (and for the better if it musically!).
Ghost Story, Remember The Good Times and On The Road Again, Again sway like a true rocking horses, they just groooove left to right and backwards. Silas And Jerome is knock-down hilarious with Ashton’s absolute genius of audiobook storyteller, helter skelter. “This is my boyfriend Silas, man! and my big brother called Jerome! Aww, shhhh…..ame on you!“…
I’m buckling down, chuckling and giggling – every time this is on.
And the title track at the end – this is 7 minutes of Paice-Lord heaven. What Jon does over last 120 seconds of it or so, both on piano and the Hammond – is a pure GOD-LIKE Lord. An absolute mastery of drive, boogie, swagger, fire and keyboard scorch. I miss that Man so gad-dam much……
July 7th, 2026 at 09:03I adore and love Malice in Wonderland and Paice, Ashton & Lord. Always loved it and played it a lot. Got it immediately when it came out.
July 7th, 2026 at 11:32@2:….but you miss the official promo poster, Richard!
July 7th, 2026 at 11:42I think they threw the towel too early. Yes, it was an inconvenient time with Punk rising from the mist, the album was a radical departure for purploid ears and Tony Ashton did not have the qualities to captivate an arena audience nor was he really a variable singer. But with someone like Jess Roden or Frankie Miller the concept could have been explored further – with Tony on board as one of the twin keyboarders, songwriter and singing a song or two. And there would have been available singers in the US too: Jerry Fisher
https://youtu.be/NNexeGi8NKg
had just left Blood, Sweat & Tears to make room for David Clayton Thomas again and he would have been someone with the raspy, gravelly voice Jon always favored plus a vocal range exceeding those four or five notes Tony Ashton offered. 😂
Doing a tour of the US as the opening act of a band with a more adult audience – PAL weren‘t really cut from the cloth pubescent males cream into – would have helped to.
It goes to show that Jon and Little Ian, for all their vast musical qualities, did not really have the drive to be band leaders like RB, IG or DC. Letting PAL die unceremoniously and then enlisting with Whitesnake is – any which way you view it – not exactly a career feat, but a dereliction of own responsibility of sorts.
Apparently, while Bernie Marsden saw PAL as a stepping stone to Whitesnake (though he would regard PAL as the musical high point in his career), Paul Martinez was very bitter about it and in later years would say scathing and derisory things about anyone from the Purple family “with the exception of Ritchie Blackmore”. Maybe he rated Ritchie’s drive and commitment as a a bandleader and found that particular aspect lacking with PAL.
I don’t think PAL’s music (which I very much liked and like) would have conquered the world, but they could have made a living, especially in the US (where they never played a single date, not even a showcase to the record company). As the history of DP has amply shown, you sometimes have to make a few changes to get where you want to go.
July 7th, 2026 at 13:49But what an upmarket dog food it was, Richard, canines loved it!
https://youtu.be/9hXFHiztZv0 (And that ad is from the 70s, not the 80s)
It did give them bad breath though 😂, but juicy and meaty food always does. Don’t ever kiss your dog after he has had carrion either – which all of them love!
July 7th, 2026 at 14:29Guess it’s the first time I just have to agree with all of the above (1-6).
An all time fave.
July 7th, 2026 at 20:30Don’t celebrate just yet, Max, you haven’t read mine … 😈
July 8th, 2026 at 02:30I agree Uwe. They did throw the towel in too early. A listen to some of the songs that would have been on their second album proves that. Malice in Wonderland is one of my favorite albums in the vast Purple Family catalog as is First of the Big Bands.
July 8th, 2026 at 12:18Lord and Paice financing that whole show would have been more than enough to raise so much doubt as to the band continuing on, let alone Tony Ashton’s stage fright and penchant for the drink. It sounds pretty obvious that the writing was on the wall pretty early on I would think. Cheers.
July 9th, 2026 at 01:12How can you form a new band relying on just one man, Herr MacGregor? If RJD had turned out a raging drug addict on tour in 1975, do you think Ritchie would for a second have considered folding his new venture Rainbow? Of course not, he would have gotten a new singer subito, ciao Ronaldo! Mind you, he unceremoniously kicked out 3/5 of Elf within a few weeks to get fledgling Rainbow where he wanted.
Lordy & Paicy (together certainly no less wealthy than Ritchie who financed Rainbow alone) just weren‘t as relentless, committed and – dare I say – assertive/self-confident to pull things through. When looking at Ritchie‘s dominant and sometimes abusive role in Purple, we need to take one thing into account: It always takes (at least) two, one who is dominant and abusive and one (or more) who let(s) things happen that way. Lord & Paice had gotten used to Ritchie pulling the cart for far too long. Backseat riding wasn‘t always uncomfortable for them and it came with amenities.
Or look at the kid from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, how he built Whitesnake from scratch. Without having had access to his 1978 tax declaration I don‘t think that his accumulated wealth then was anywhere near Paicey‘s or Jon‘s. He just did it. And they let themselves be hired by him once WS was out of the water, that just about says it all.
Musically, PAL‘s sole album was a high point that showed some promise and potential. From a business perspective, however, the handling of the new venture was half-arsed and feeble – and both Jon and Little Ian bear a lot of the blame for that. As commitment to long term success goes, they weren‘t exactly Tony Edwards and John Coletta.
July 9th, 2026 at 13:58I got massively into Purple aged 11 in 1977. I financed LP purchases from a paper round. Every purchase was a major decision. LP’s were 4 quid then, and Purple never made it into the second hand record shop in my town (Concerto excepted). I was a quid short of a new Purple LP, but went window shopping anyway. I spent the 3 quid on 2 second hand LP’s, IGB CAT & PAL Malice. I was totally confused by both but perservered with committed listening. They are now, and have been for some years, my favourite spin off albums of all releases.
I think PAL was over when Paicey (known for fiscal concern) and Lord (heading for a divorce and getting on in age) assessed their losses and weighed up their future. Neither were song writers or frontmen/guitar heroes unlike RB,DC & IG, they didn’t have the audience pull factor and their world was changing into disco and punk. MIW remains as a classic, and on constant rotation on my stereo.
July 9th, 2026 at 23:41Taking into consideration the Mark IV debacle, surely Ian and Jon were not going to keep putting everything on the line with PAL. And you forgot to mention the issue with Tony Ashton, that was a rather large obstacle getting even bigger by the sound of it. Also the fact they went straight back into studio says something to me. So quickly? Much easier to get into someone else’s band don’t you think? That being Coverdale’s new and functioning rock band where you work for a wage and nothing else, meaning no financial and dare I say it, legal responsibilities. Maybe PAL owed a second album for the record contract or something, I don’t know. But Tony Ashton was becoming a mega issue. I have previously read somewhere an estimated 100,000 pounds was spent by Lord and Paice and also all the headaches that went with it. At least they did what they set out to do, initially. Cheers.
July 10th, 2026 at 02:34AJ and Herr MacGregor, you both have valid points: Ian’s “fiscal concerns” 😂 and the traumatic experience of not being able to hold DP together over the departure of Blackers in the Mk IV era, that all counts into the PAL debacle.
And £ 100.000 was a lot of money in 1976/77, maybe even for two multimillionaires who had spent years in tax havens, yet I have a distinct feeling – I didn’t do an audit – that Ritchie spent more on Rainbow, IG more on IGB and GILLAN and DC more on WS. Big Ian was constantly broke until he made good with Sabbath and DC was broke by the end of Marsden/Moody Era WS (a divorce contributed) and millions in debt with record companies. Paicey and Lordy were risk-averse, some people just are.
The choice of Tony Ashton as the all-decisive frontman was a poor one and, apparently, little due diligence had been done. There was nothing in Tony’s legacy as of 1976 to suggest that he would be up to the task. He had played with Remo Four who had a freak hit (Peter Gunn) and Ashton, Gardener & Dyke who had done the same (Resurrection Shuffle), other than that he had been a sideman in Chicken Shack and Family as a keyboarder (both stints he didn’t like). He had never really filled an arena on his own and his rapport with the audience had been honed in pubs and clubs only. There was absolutely no reliance that he would be another DC, plucked from obscurity, put on slimming pills and with his cross-sightedness surgically repaired to then watch him hit the ground running.
Jon’s choice of musicians was not always beyond reproach. It was him who brought Colin Hodgkinson into WS after having toured with him in Pete York’s Olympic Rock & Blues Circus in Germany. I know how Herr MacGregor always accuses me of knowing things better in hindsight, but hand on heart do you really believe that playing well with a drummer like Pete York is an indication to be a good rhythm section fit with Cozy Powell of all people? Look how long that lasted (and Cozy’s famous enraged exit from the drum booth, snapping at Colin in the studio: “Let me introduce myself, I AM THE DRUMMER !!!”). It beats me that Jon Lord, an experienced musician with good ears, could deem it even remotely feasible that the two would gel.
https://youtu.be/kVfqvIGLLp0
PS: When Colin Hodgkinson later on played with Peter Maffay, Bertram Engel, the drummer, took Maffay aside one day and said to him: “Colin is a great guy and technically an excellent player, but we will never get a groove going with him in this band.” Said and done, they ditched Colin and brought in Ken Taylor who plays bass with Peter Maffay to this day.
https://youtu.be/GwFRtt4C2Yo
PPS: It personally hurt me how both Jon and Little Ian struggled post-DP to find something adequate. WS was a marriage of convenience for both of them, but that I would live to see the day that Little Ian got fired by the guy he pulled out of Saltburn-by-the-Sea or that Jon would see both Cozy and John Sykes receive higher wages in WS, while his keyboard role was diminished over time … that was bitter. And Little Ian having to dumb down his expert drumming for Gary Moore’s totally rigid and non-swinging music was a real nadir too. Awful. Like Jeff Beck having to replace Malcolm Young in AC/DC.
July 10th, 2026 at 16:18Yes the PAL ‘experiment’, well that is what it sort of looks like after the fact, it was a risk taking exercise in it not being a ‘rock’ band as such. However, that is the main reason they did it, something totally different. As we know there are no individual ‘rock’ songwriters in that band either, Bernie Marsden being the closest you will get to one at that time.. Not to worry, they did it, it was recorded, that is the main thing I suppose for us supporters. The musicians themselves simply move on to another adventure. Regarding Ian Paice with the Gary Moore’s band, I just read a few days ago a 1984 interview with Ian, and he says he had more room to move in that band than he did in Whitesnake. I will see if I can find it again. Here it is, in the hallowed halls of THS site. The link for the full interview is after the highlighted piece in regard to working in two different scenarios, a singer based band to a instrumentalist based band. Cheers.
RF: Is working with a guitar oriented situation different from working with a vocal oriented situation?
IP: I find it a lot easier to play with a lead instrumentalist rather than a lead vocalist. There is a lot more freedom. With a vocalist like David(Coverdale), what he’s doing is so all-encompassing that there is very little space left for anybody else to do much. When you’re doing a solo, then you can let go, but when what you’re selling is basically an instrumental thing with lyrics, there’s the freedom to do certain things. In guitar oriented bands, just by virtue of the fact that they’re thinking along the same lines as you are, they give you a lot more freedom and leave a lot more gaps. Gary(Moore) played, and although he sang, he thought with an instrumentalist’s brain. There were places to play things. With singers, it’s their thing and they’re out in front doing the whole thing. Really, you just fade into the background. There’s nothing to you can do about it and there’s nothing the singer can do about it.’
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/interviews/paice/ip198412xx.html
July 10th, 2026 at 23:42#16 Uwe:
not to mention that for Lord and Paicey joining WS also meant in a certain sense maintaining a link with Purple, given that playing with Ritchie or BigIan was impossible, and the call to their safe roots was also a factor that was not only economic for the two of them
July 11th, 2026 at 00:22Flavio, I know Jon had an offer to join Rainbow (and declined) and so did Little Ian (and declined as well). I think both couldn’t bring it over themselves to be Ritchie’s employees. They shared a shorter history with DC, so that is why they perhaps found it easier to join his band rather than Rainbow.
Herr MacGregor, Little Ian held a minority equity stake in the Gary Moore band under the arrangement he had, whereas in WS he was – like everyone else – just a hired hand. But if there was more musical freedom for him with Gary Moore, I don’t hear it, with WS he was at least allowed to swing and groove. In contrast, both Corridors of Power and Victims of the Future are “dead” records for me from a rhythm section point of view. Moore was exacting in his standards as regards timing, holding the bpm and accuracy of playing, it made a lot of what he did sound contrived and stiff. Neil Murray left him because he found his bass playing with Gary more restricted than with WS, even if it meant going back to play with Cozy Powell, never the easiest rhythm section foil for a bassist. That says something I think. Of course, Little Ian had a more elevated status with Gary.
I saw Little Ian with Gary Moore in early 1984 in a small hall (Volksbildungsheim, FFM), Moore played well (let’s cast the veil of polite silence over his “singing”) and it was a joy to see Little Ian again after having witnessed several WS gigs before where Cozy had drummed WS songs to death, but really: Mk IV or PAL style live drumming it wasn’t. Moore’s music did not allow for that type of freedom. And the Gruber/Paice rhythm section was certainly no match for the Murray/Paice one from the WS days of yore where their understanding had been telepathic. Neil Murray is alongside Roger the bassist Little Ian gelled with most.
July 11th, 2026 at 16:34Utterly pointless comparing rock bands who are touring and recording albums, to a one off ‘big band’ in PAL. Totally different situations and as we all know, Tony Aston wasn’t a ‘rock’ singer. Where does the ‘multi millionaire’ thing come from Uwe? I remember Jon Lord stating that he was never a millionaire, he lived very comfortably though, his words in response to people always assuming that. I said it a little while ago here in regard to you using Gary Moore, (surprise, no) as an excuse to lay down the ‘dumbed down’ Ian Paice drumming bullshit. I sent a link here and mentioned in that interview was Ian talking about the early 1980’s, and he was not happy with his drumming, too leaden, too restricted etc. You have deliberately twisted that to ‘only when he was with Gary Moore’, how pathetically predictable. The fact is, it appears that Ian enjoyed himself more with Gary, letting his hair down for want of a better expression. The only thing he didn’t enjoy was the over emphasis on rehearsals, spending too much time on that. None of those band excursions were going to last for Ian or Jon, musicians do move around at times, as you would have noticed with Ian Gillan too at those times. And they spend their money doing things in their lives, not kicking back living a life of ‘multi millionaires’. The British tax slug was huge for musicians etc at that time, so many were living elsewhere and spending their money to avoid that 90% rip off, or thereabouts. Even if you were not a millionaire you would be doing something about it, if you had your head screwed on correctly that is. Cheers.
July 11th, 2026 at 20:22Loved PAL- Sneaky Private Lee-
With all the issues for Jon & Little Ian
July 11th, 2026 at 20:52glad for the 1984 reunion & Perfect Strangers which brought them back home !!
When I first heard Whitesnake in the early 80’s I thought nothing more than Ian and Jon adapting to the situation, as good musicians should. I heard a big difference in Ian’s playing compared to the mid to late 70’s era, but I would never call it ‘dumbed down’ as you did with his excursion with Gary Moore. In fact I find the Gary Moore music much more passionate and emotional and exciting than early 80’s Whitesnake. The Snake had a few good songs here and there, but something was missing to me. I bet you Ian really enjoyed playing live with Gary Moore and band and also not having to dance around a ‘prima donna’ as in the Snake. Anyway, regarding music having to ‘swing’. You had better get rid of many of those cd’s in that vast collection of yours Uwe. I bet there are hundreds in there that do NOT ‘swing’ at all. Cheers.
July 12th, 2026 at 10:51“Dumbing down” was something happened to Lord and Paice in WS, and to Ritchie in his own band.
Unfortunately only Lord took back his crown when PERFECT STRANGERS happened.
It took the other two a much longer time to, like Gillan said in 92 about RB, to return to their roots.
He himself since has been an enigma. Going back and forth between almost regaining his old glory and performing utterly emberassing.
TBRO tour wasnt his best but very close.
And then it all came to a sudden end.
July 12th, 2026 at 18:26Yes, Rammstein and Judas Priest for example. But I never expected that from THEM. Purple needs to swing, Priest doesn‘t.
I found some of Neil Murray’s groove bled into Little Ian’s drumming approach with WS – Murray has said that he found Little Ian the most sympathetic drummer to his bass playing ever. That‘s huge compliment in my book.
To restore Little Ian‘s wavering self-confidence after having received the boot from Coverdale, signing up with Gary Moore was certainly a good thing, so thanks for that. I didn‘t think of Corridors of Power much, but Victims of the Future was a good album within the constraints of Moore‘s limited vocal abilities.
July 12th, 2026 at 20:45#19 Uwe:
I think that in some ways WS’s music from the Murray-Paicey period was freer, but also more naive than Gary Moore’s.
Let’s also remember that in the 80s productions started to become very complex, with the evolution of technology, high-budget productions (even for non-first-rate artists) and producers and record companies that were very demanding on certain commercial standards to which almost all rock and pop musicians conformed, in order to have hits.
#20 MacGregor:
yes, perhaps it is useless to compare PAL with Gary Moore, at the base there were different ideas, stories, and hierarchies.
PAL was a short and intense dream, Moore was something totally different.
anyway Lord and the others could have been multi-millionaires….I remember an interview with Glenn from the 90s where he said that during the period in which he was taking drugs he blessed the check for 100,000 dollars from the royalties of the two MKIII albums….think how much the checks of the others were!
July 12th, 2026 at 21:581. Herr MacGregor, if you think Jon Lord and others from DP were not multimillionaires then you should perhaps consult real estate prices during the last decades in Henley-on-Thames and surroundings where he owned properties. Your views on the economics of an internationally mega-successful recording and touring act like DP are naïve. Jon’s royalty proceeds from SOTW were up to £ 250.000 per year alone (long after Mk II had folded) – and that was just one song. Yes, he also had to pay taxes, most people do, it finances infrastructure and the provision of services.
2. I politely disagree with you guys on Gary Moore’s rock era music being more musical than WS, to me it sounded more labored and contrived. And Herr MacGregor: Name me a Gary Moore song where Neil Murray played according to your view “passionately” – you must have access to recordings I don’t know. The only person who ever played passionately with Moore (and was allowed to do so) was Moore himself, his backing bands were one-man-shows with Little Ian being lucky enough to still have the most elevated position among them all (I’m not saying he played badly with Gary Moore, Paicey never does).
Flavio, I agree that WS was looser (in a good way) than Gary Moore’s music. It was also more natural and grooving. Gary’s studio albums in his rock years all sound rigid and confined as he (over)played his obnoxious guitar over it. If you don’t find Marsden’s and Moody’s interweaving guitars more musical than Gary’s obsessive clamoring for attention, then I can’t help you. Moore recorded an entire album (Wild Frontier) with drum machines because he didn’t like how humans played – that says just about all about him. From Jon Hiseman to Ian Paice to a drum machine – what an apt display of musical devolution.
3. So PAL wasn’t intended as a live act like other touring rock bands were, Herr MacGregor? Another bold and bald statement. Care to explain to me why they then spent an inordinate amount of money on their lavish multi-layer stage set-up
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT37Yd_Oi_-hpwy4l3BszVVj1V2Hn0pu3TCp89LIxIzJ1O9bHWq5m3dt-s&s=10
or already had German tour dates booked which were only called off after Tony fell into the orchestra pit (I already had a ticket)? From Jon’s and Ian’s plans and intentions, Tony’s strength was that of a live performer, he certainly wasn’t much of a studio singer (his vocals on the PAL album are all backtracked by Bernie Marsden’s more melodious voice as was Martin Birch’s recommendation during the recording process). They just miscalculated that he would not be able to transfer his ability to entertain a club to a larger hall.
July 13th, 2026 at 14:18The ‘multi millionaire’ stardom fantasy. These people who earn money doing whatever they do also spend it. Just because a band or the musicians within it make some money, doesn’t mean they keep it and build it up to certain figure, as in one million dollars, pounds or whatever currency. No one is disputing the amount of financial benefit the Deep Purple members may have gained over time, especially back then, as if any of us would know or need to know that. How much money were they losing to other sources, let’s not go there. Back in the late 1970’s, which is the timeline we are talking about in regard to the Paice, Ashton and Lord scenario, what were the so called real estate prices then Uwe. Talk about inflating the figures, hindsight again eh? According to you at that time, those two DP members were rolling in it (as were the other ex DP band members no doubt), so I guess the money they, Lord and Paice were personally spending on the PAL band was no problem at all? Jon Lord lived very well as he said constantly in response to the media and others assuming he was a millionaire……… he said it, not me, but I did believe him. Why should’t anyone, if they state that back at that time. In fact that comment may have been in the 1980’s, when they did come into more money with the reunion and that is one of the reasons they did it, as we know from what has been said by band members. Anyway, get the calculator out Uwe, but make sure it is in real time, as in back in those days, not today’s real estate prices in this incessant greedy filthy world. Jon’s assets and his estate of course would indeed paint a different picture in recent years. Let’s keep things in perspective eh? Regarding the bullshit that I allegedly said that the PAL band wasn’t intended for a live performance scenario, where did you get that from Uwe. I NEVER said that. (I should sue, I really should, he he he). What I said was that the other ongoing bands you mentioned were regularly touring and recording set ups, of course they are going to spend shit loads of money keeping all that going. PAL didn’t get that far as you and everyone else knows. So the money already spent was on a handful of gigs plus the initial album and attempting to record a second album that was never completed. A lot of money for not too much in return, don’t you think. Anyway, if Jon and Ian decided to pull the pin that is their choice, and as know Tony wasn’t digging it was he? The broken leg incident would have been more than a warning as such. We do wonder how much feedback Jon and Tony received from record companies and promotors in the USA, when they ventured over there to suss out the situation. Probably not good we could assume, especially at that point in time, the later 1970’s. Cheers
https://www.earmusic.com/news/the-story-of-malice-in-wonderland-paice-ashton-lord/
July 14th, 2026 at 00:35Well I am among those who believe that IP is a main factor of what makes DP so special. I am a big fan of hios drumming and bought everything he played on that I could get a hold of. But I cannot bring myself to listen to the Gary Moore stuff. Nuff said.
Good ‘un reagrding Wild Frontier, Uwe. I could not believe it back then.
July 14th, 2026 at 07:56It baffles me, lieber Tasmanian, that you are adamant that members of the rock band with the highest gross sales in the US in 1973 – even outselling artists like the Rolling Stones – should be anything but multimillionaires (for the avoidance of doubt: I have no issues with that!). How much of that money they spent wisely, is another matter, I think Little Ian mostly did, Big Ian not so much.
You have likely forgotten this thread here in your disgruntled impatience:
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/thsblog/2022/03/26/burntwood-hall-up-for-sale/
And perhaps Jon’s own thoughts (“when we had more money than sense“) here @04:55 refreshen your feeble memory somewhat, he might only have been bragging of course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYkYoPF1UMw
I don’t know which social circles you frequent nor the realty prices in Tasmania, but judging from my own limited experience of more than 30 years in an English top tier law firm, I have yet to meet someone living in a dwelling such as this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJlsMcFxCLU&t=12s
in one of the priciest regions in England and NOT being a multimillionaire (whatever that means, I’m not saying Jon was Elon Musk).
And according to my rough calculations, Ritchie’s acquisition of the notorious Rainbow lighting rig alone equalled about half of Jon’s and Little Ian’s investments into PAL.
Given the difference in musical quality between PAL’s Malice in Wonderland and Rainbow’s Rising one might of course hold the view that Ritchie’s purchase was the more necessary (and therefore wise) one to compensate what the music lacked in colorfulness, but I digress.
My Tasmaian friend is very beharrlich in his views, I must say. What can’t be, shan’t be!
July 14th, 2026 at 14:49What a shuffle groove-fest that song was, oh so lively!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IocRCDWB5k
Passionate! Emotional! Exciting! And most importantly for Gary: PRECISE.
And now in comparison how lifeless, mechanical and stiff these guys sounded playing a shuffle …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57eMlrf30Hw
July 14th, 2026 at 15:34The LIFESPAN documentary is particularly fascinating, including filmed sequences at the mythical-in-DP-lore Musicland Studios!
Google “Paice Ashton Lord Lifespan Film” to find it, it’s about half hour long.
Also sightings of other legendary people like our dearly departed Martin Birch and girl-magnet Magnet Ward. Plus Mr. Paice on Uwe-approved (mis)behavior with his missus, I presume.
According to Bernie’s book, everything took a downturn when the European dates were cancelled (“not postponed, but *cancelled*” Marsden wrote) due to low sales and eventually Paice decided having thrown 200K into the venture with Jon was enough.
Realizing Ashton was no frontman, they recruit David Coverdale and maybe now call it “Purple” (without the Deep) who declined, opting for his solo career.
I like the album NOW, a kind of mix of DP MKIV with Chicago, but it was maybe too different for rock fans, I guess…(same with Clear Air Turbulence by IGB)
Best, J.-
July 14th, 2026 at 21:14I have worked for very wealthy people Uwe, in heritage listed buildings and properties. I have no illusions about wealth or real estate. I moved down here (Tasmania) 10 years ago next month to be precise, from the Queensland ‘Gold Coast’ hinterland. Please don’t presume ole son. By the way, I have met wealthy people who gave up the high and mighty, started working in the ‘common’ jobs as gardeners and maintenance handyman etc. Why, just to get back in touch with reality and the people who, as we often hear, are the ‘salt of the earth’, so to speak. I don’t presume about the Deep Purple guys ‘wealth or no wealth’ scenario. I just think about it on a different level to what you do. I certainly don’t fall for all the ‘rock star’ hype. And I do think that Jon Lord and a few others didn’t either, as much as that stigma is often attached to ‘success’ and ‘fame’. As Roger Waters sings on Pink Floyd’s ‘Two Suns in the Sunset’, “ashes and diamonds, foe and friend, were all equal in the end”. Cheers.
July 15th, 2026 at 01:45#31 J:
$200,000 from Paice’s pocket (or anyone’s) was a very large sum at the time!
Knowing LittleIan’s financial acumen, he certainly decided to stop long before he hit the bank like BigIan did!
#32 MacGregor:
Mac, your life choice does you credit, and I envy you for it.
I think I’ll make my choice when I retire from work, but I still have too many years left here in this poor Italy, devastated by incompetent governments… once we were the cradle of culture and music, now we are a nation of ignorant people anesthetized as much as, and probably more than, the rest of Europe.
It is really hard to witness the decline of an entire country both in terms of environment, efficiency, values, culture and people.
July 15th, 2026 at 20:36@ 33- I hear you Fla76, the way we humans are heading, devastating for the less wealthy, the unfortunate and of course the environment. I envy your part of the world though, the culture, history and the arts. We don’t have that out here, well it doesn’t have that classical heritage to it, if you know what I mean. I guess the old saying ‘you can’t have everything’ applies to many of us in this world. It always has for a lot of people and always will. That sung melody lyric from the Yes album Magnification from 2001, ‘In this world, the Gods have lost their way’. Cheers
July 16th, 2026 at 00:20