The Deep Purple spin-off project Paice Ashton Lord were formed by ex-Deep Purplers
Ian Paice (drums) and
Jon Lord (organ) with
Tony Ashton, who had been in
the Remo Four during the British Invasion era and then in
Ashton, Gardner & Dyke (famous for "Resurrection Shuffle"). When they got together in mid-1976,
Deep Purple had just broken up; for the sole Paice Ashton Lord album, the sound was filled out by guitarist
Bernie Marsden and bassist
Paul Martinez. That LP, Malice in Wonderland, was not nearly as heavy as
Deep Purple had been, though it still owed much to mainstream British hard rock. However, there was a fair amount of jazz influence in the arrangements (which sometimes included brass) and some soul ingredients to the songwriting. All of this didn't add up to anything more than an average mid-'70s rock album, the kind you could have heard as filler on numerous AOR-oriented FM stations at the time. You didn't, though, since the album didn't sell much, and Paice Ashton Lord disbanded, although they did start work on a second LP. Eight songs from the unreleased second album appeared on the CD reissue of Malice in Wonderland on Purple Records in 2001. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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Malice in Wonderland