Paice Ashton Lord was a short-lived

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

band featuring

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

band members Ian Paice and Jon Lord with singer Tony Ashton. The band was formed in 1976, released its only album in 1977 and broke up in 1978.

History

After Deep Purple broke up in 1976, drummer Ian Paice and keyboard player Jon Lord created a new band, Paice Ashton Lord, with friend Tony Ashton, a British keyboardist and singer of

Ashton, Gardner and Dyke Ashton, Gardner and Dyke were a British rock trio, most popular in the early 1970s. They are best remembered for their song, "Resurrection Shuffle", a transatlantic Top 40 one-hit wonder in 1971. History Founding band member Tony Ashton first ...

. After extensive auditions they chose

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (born 7 May 1951) is an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as "Fool for Your Loving", ...

to play electric guitar and Paul Martinez as the band's bassist. Tony Ashton had previously played with Lord on the 1974 album ''

First of the Big Bands ''First of the Big Bands'' is a studio album by Tony Ashton of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke and Jon Lord of Deep Purple, released in April 1974 by Purple Records in the UK and Europe and Warner Bros. Records in the US. The project was Ashton's and L ...

'' and on Lord's ''

Gemini Suite After the 1969 classical / rock fusion ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'', Jon Lord was commissioned to write a follow-up. This was ''Gemini Suite'', five long movements inspired by the members of Deep Purple, and performed live in September 19 ...

'' project in 1971, singing lead vocals on one track. He collaborated on Lord's solo work and Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover's solo projects. Soon after Ashton broke his leg falling off a stage in the dark at a London concert, the group was wound up. Lord, Marsden and later Paice joined

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after wh ...

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

. Martinez joined Stan Webb's

Chicken Shack Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine Perfect (later McVie) (vocals and keyboards) in 1967. ...

for a short time, before joining John Otway for one album, and going on to play with

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

. Later on, Paice played in

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

's band before he and Lord joined the re-formed Deep Purple in 1984. Tony Ashton died of cancer on 28 May 2001. Jon Lord died of pancreatic cancer on 16 July 2012. A memorial concert was held for Tony Ashton at the Buxton Opera House on 4 November 2001.

Recordings

The band recorded their debut album '' Malice in Wonderland'' at Musicland Studios in Munich in September and October 1976. The record was released in February 1977. The music included elements of

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, with several tracks featuring a brass section and backing vocals from Sheila and Jeanette McKinley. Despite some critical appreciation, the album was not a great commercial success. A second album was planned but was not released. Film of the band recording the album in the studio was later released as ''Lifespan''. The band appeared on the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

simulcast series "Sight And Sound: In Concert", in 1977, performing songs from "Malice In Wonderland", plus "The Ballad Of Mr. Giver", from Ashton & Lord's 1974 album, ''

''. This recording was later released, subsequently with a DVD. An audiovisual recording of a 1977 Paice Ashton Lord concert in London was released on DVD in 2006. In June 2000 Pete York and Jon Lord organised a testimonial concert for Tony Ashton at London's

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

to mark Ashton's apparent recovery from illness, named the 'Endangered Species Awards 2000'. 300 guests were invited and Tony Ashton was backed by artists including Lord, Paice, Marsden,

's Neil Murray,

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

's son Zak Starkey and actor Ewan McGregor. A recording of 23 tracks from the event was released as 'Endangered Species' in 2009, featuring four Paice Ashton Lord songs. ''Malice in Wonderland'' was re-released on CD in 2001 by

Purple Records Purple Records was a record label established in 1971 by Deep Purple's management. Their releases were distributed by EMI and now by Universal Music Group after the EMI acquisition. The label was run until 1979. Until 1974 the label was used fo ...

and 2019 by earMUSIC, each with an additional thirty minutes of songs intended for the unreleased second album. The earMUSIC release includes an extensive 24-page-booklet with new liner notes by Simon Robinson and previously unseen photos by Alan Messer. earMUSIC also re-released the album as 2LP gatefold.

Discography

* 1977 ''Malice in Wonderland'' : Reissue 1995 (Repertoire Records), incl. three previously unreleased live tracks : Reissue 2001 (Purple Records), incl. eight previously unreleased studio recordings : Reissue 2019 (earMUSIC/Edel), incl. 24-page-booklet with liner notes and previously unreleased photos and eight remastered bonus tracks from the long-lost second album * 1992 ''BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert'' / ''Live 1977'' : Recorded live on 10 March 1977 at the Golders Green Hippodrome, London, one song missing : Reissue 2012 (Hummingbird), remastered edition released as ''Live 1977'', including previously missing song * 2007 ''Paice Ashton Lord Live'' (DVD) : Recorded live on 10 March 1977 at the Golders Green Hippodrome, London, full recording * 2009 ''Endangered Species'' (2CD+DCD) : Tony Ashton and friends, featuring Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Bernie Marsden, recorded live at Abbey Road in 2000. The album includes four songs by Paice Ashton Lord

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paice Ashton Lord English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1976 Rock music supergroups