Paice, Ashton, Lord reviewed by Melody Maker.

From: Stephanie Itayim 
Subject: PAICE ASHTON LORD (Walid Itayim)
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 16:18:03 GMT
Message-ID: <199511301618.SAA19538@zenon.logos.hol.gr>

It was a certain amount of courage to break up a band that has been , in its day, the world's top selling album outfit, not to mention a First Division concert attraction from Texas to Tokyo.

Deep Purple were such a band and they broke up last year ending an eight year association which had seen them selling more albums than anyone else in the world in 1973 and 1974 and filling with ease auditoria like Wembley Empire Pool and Madison Square Garden. But with the band's long history of personnel changes culminating in the departure of first Ritchie Blackmore and then his successor , the recently tragically deceased Tommy Bolin, there was little else to do. The band had proved their point and, and as in the words of manager Rob Cooksey, it would have degraded their proud history by simply hanging together and chasing every penny.

So Purple split and the only remaining original members keyboard player Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice found themselves with time on their hands and talent going to waste.

Then they made a less than startling discovery - after eight years together they found they enjoyed working with each other. "It was something that hadn't really occurred to me before" admits Jon Lord. "The early days when we had originally teamed up and found we liked each other and each others music were long forgotten. But after the split Ian suggested that he and I carry on with a new band and that old feeling came back".

So there was Paice, rated by Lord and many others as the world's premier drummer, and Lord, acknowledged generally as a fine keyboard player and one of rock's few true gentlemen. They needed more members. First and obvious choice was Tony Ashton - a larger than life figure in the rock businessand former keyboard player and vocalist with Family and Ashton, Gardner & Dyke.

Aside from his obvious and manifest talents Ashton's raucous and raunchy personality was what Paice and Lord needed to make sure no one confused their new band with any sort of remade and remodelled Deep Purple. And of course, Ashton was an old friend of our dynamic duo and had appeared with them on stage in the Butterfly Ball concert at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1975 where he stole the show by playing piano brilliantly singing like a fallen angel and, last but not least , showering his fellow musicians with white wine.

The prospect of two keyboard players and a drummer sounded interesting, but a bass player and guitarist would also come in handy, the trio agreed.

Enter Bernie Marsden and Paul Martinez. Paice, Ashton and Lord were anxious not to give the impression that they were assembling a band merely from old friends and associates.

"That would have looked as though we weren't serious in what we were doing" explained Jon Lord. "It would have seemed as though we'd just got together for the boozing and the laughs than as a serious band". So they set up a series of auditions.

"If you ever want to know what hell on earth is like try conducting auditions" says Lord. "It's not that the musicians who came along were bad or anything - it's just that there were so many".

"Paul Martinez was an obvious choice -he impressed me and others with his style and personality. He's very funky, very economical player and we had no hesitation in picking him. Paul had previously been with Stretch where he perfected his crisp, funky style and when we heard him we realised that was exactly what we wanted".

Bernie Marsden was a late comer. The former Babe Ruth guitarist and seasoned session player, hadn't noticed the adverts in the music press asking for guitarists at auditions. His old friend Cozy Powell, now drumming with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, phoned Marsden and told him to get down there quick because the band was being formed by none other than Jon Lord and Ian Paice.

"I thought I was far too late" says Marsden ruefully " and I was a bit embarrassed phoning up and asking if they still needed a guitarist. But I was in luck and they seemed to like me. Mind you it was probably only because they were so knackered. My contribution just batterd them into submission, they didn't have any choice." Not so, says Lord, Marsden like Martinez was exactly what the band needed. Thus Paice, Ashton,Lord - alias PAL - was born.

In autumn of last year the fearless five split for Munich and the Musicland Studios, home of some of Deep Purple's greatest recorded moments, to rehearse and make an album.

The album is now completed and it will come as a complete surprise to hardened Deep Purple fanatics. Ashton's voice and keyboard playing have added new dimensions to the already acknowledged talents of Paice and Lord while Marsden and Martinez are, possibly for the first time in their careers, proving just how good they are as musicians.

In addition a lot of thought has been put into the writing and arranging of the songs of this most impressive debut album. Listen to the R&B style, the punchy brass sections and the sensitively treated girly choruses. There is humour, raunch and verve in this collection which has taken the best of the old Deep Purple technique and combined it with a new relaxed and funky attitude.

A good album by any standards and a most impressive band. Listen to them both - the album now and the band when they go on tour.

You'll be surprised and, I think, impressed by PAL - a fan's best friend.

By Brian Harrigan - Melody Maker