While scores of bands they’ve influenced have either said farewell or succumbed altogether (i.e. Van Halen, Motörhead, Slayer), Deep Purple remains heavy metal’s resident freaks of nature, on the verge of celebrating their 54th(!!!) anniversary (55th if you include their initial 1967 formation as Roundabout). For a band who has been so important and influential to the very existence of this music, one must wonder who or what it was that spurred them to push rock music to the next level. After all, it’s not like “Speed King” was born out of thin air. On their latest album, Turning to Crime, Purple pays tribute to their influences the only way they know how: By being Purple.
In an ideal world, this album wouldn’t even exist. Purple wouldn’t have had the time to make it! They’d be too busy wrapping up a year’s worth of touring behind their latest album, Whoosh!, and probably busy coming up with ideas for its follow up. Then COVID happened, Purple wasn’t able to tour behind Whoosh! at all, and they had almost two years to kill. Even in their advanced age, these legendary musicians weren’t ready to settle down just yet. So they teamed up with their favorite producer of recent years, Bob Ezrin, to put together a covers album that would hold them over in the interim.
If there’s one purpose Turning to Crime serves, it’s to give Purple fans a broader understanding of how their favorite band came to be. As I listened to each track, I thought to myself, “Hey, this sounds like *insert Purple song or album here*.” Then it occurred to me I should revisit the original recordings of these songs and connect the dots to the respective Purple songs/albums they resemble. For example, the band’s arrangement of Fleetwood Mac’s gritty “Oh Well” sounds similar to 1996’s “Ted the Mechanic”, and a rendition of Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken” recalls their own take on country rock, “Anybody’s Daughter”.
My favorite cuts are the ones that had the biggest impact on shaping the classic Mk. II Purple sound: Love’s “7 and 7 Is”, The Yardbirds’ “Shapes of Things”, Cream’s “White Room”, and Bob Seger’s “Lucifer”. With the addition of virtuosic keys, rip roaring soloing, and a signature burst of energy that’s theirs alone, Purple presents these standards as if they were lost jams from the Machine Head sessions. Their rendition of “7 and 7 Is” in particular happens to be one of the most savage and metallic Purple performances since Blackmore’s departure. Now if only they were to record an entire album of originals in that spirit again.
While the rest of Turning to Crime has its moments, there’s no reinventing of the wheel or jaw dropping displays of creative excellence. After all, it is a covers album. It’s just nice to hear Deep Purple still alive and kickin’ ass. If geeking out over this band is a crime, consider me guilty on all charges! This fanboy turned to crime the moment he heard “Highway Star” and hasn’t looked back.
6 out of 10
Label: earMUSIC
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Cream