The last time Ι saw Deep Purple (DP) was this June, at the Graspop Metal Meeting festival in Belgium. They were below Sabaton and Deftones in the day's billing, which given their history is surprisingly low. I guess that the organizers figured DP was just another oldies act, which is only partly true - Judas Priest and Scorpions, who headlined other nights at the festival, are only a few years younger. It may have to do with DP's lack of stagecraft, they obviously prefer focusing on the music rather than on the show. In an earlier review, I had declared this band incarnation to be worthy successors to the original one, and I expressed the desire to see them in concert. As it happened, I narrowly missed my chance: guitarist Steve Morse had left the band only a couple of months before, to devote time to caring for his wife while she battles cancer. He was replaced by Simon McBride. The jury isn't out yet, but he didn't make much of a first impression on me. He played well, but any DP guitarist has to measure up against Ritchie Blackmore. Blackmore was more than a guitar virtuoso, he was also a genuine rock star, and McBride doesn't have that quality. The fact alone that he said in an interview that this material isn't "technically very difficult to play" suggests that he's the wrong person for Deep Purple, a hired hand rather than a bona fide band member. Morse may not be a "rockstar" guitarist, but he brought his own playing style to the game, bonded well with the other members, and his influence renewed the band's sound by achieving a balance between their established heavy metal style and their proggier jazz rock leanings.
Morse's leaving makes Turning to Crime the last album by Deep Purple's most stable lineup (together for 20 years). I doubt they intended to go out this way; usually cover albums act as a kind of interlude to let the band relax and have fun in the studio by playing their favorites. Which isn't precisely the case here: you certainly can't tell it by listening, but they weren't all in the same room during the recording. Because of the pandemic lockdown, each member sent his contribution via internet. Nevertheless, fun they most definitely seem to have, especially in the rock and roll/R&B numbers: Huey Piano Smith's "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu", Mitch Ryder's "Jenny Take a Ride!", and Louis Jordan's "Let the Good Times Roll". Extra points go to Don Airy for his jazzy keyboard work; if it wasn't for him one could mistake these tracks for something off Gillan's record with his old 60's chums The Javelins. Sounding even less like DP, we also get a few country (Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans"), folk and blues covers (Bob Dylan's "Watching the River Flow" and Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken"). Then there are a couple of 60's garage classics: DP's musicianship is beyond reproach but I feel they fail to capture the essence of Love's "7 and 7 Is" and The Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things". They're closer to home with early hard rocker "Lucifer" (Bob Seger), "White Room" (Cream) and "Oh Well" (Fleetwood Mac). What is arguably the highlight of the album comes at the end: a 7,5 minute mostly-instrumental medley called "Caught in the Act" incorporating parts from "Going Down" (Freddie King), "Green Onions" (Booker T & The MG's), "Hot 'Lanta" (Allman Brothers), "Dazed and Confused" (Led Zeppelin) and "Gimme Some Lovin'" (Spencer Davis Group). After all these years, the band have developed an an easy affinity with each other. The looseness is not only evident in their playing but also in the humorous title and album cover: they "turn to crime", as in stealing other people's material. Problem is, these songs are mostly too well-known and, with the exception of some nice improvisations here and there, DP seem content to act as a cover band instead of putting their own stamp on these compositions. The sound of the album is barely recognizable as DP; it may not be guaranteed to satisfy the more narrow-minded fans of the band, but it makes for an overall enjoyable listening. The total duration is around 50 minutes. It could conceivably fit in a single LP, but instead we get four sides on 45RPM: be sure to adjust your record player accordingly, otherwise this vinyl will sound very strange indeed. *** for 7 and 7 Is, Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, Oh Well, Jenny Take a Ride!,Let the Good Times Roll, Lucifer, White Room, Caught in the Act
** for Watching the River Flow, Dixie Chicken, Shapes of Things, The Battle of New Orleans
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