Deep Purple Turning To Crime 180g 2LP (Crystal Clear Vinyl)

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the January 2022 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Deep Purple - legends of hard rock - a name that needs no explanation.

Having built a legacy that is second to none, the band presented themselves on a creative peak with their latest album Whoosh! in 2020. Their "time trilogy" consisting of NOW What?!, inFinite and Whoosh! (2013, 2017, 2020) sold over 1 million albums altogether, topped the charts 11 times and achieved more than 40 Top 10 positions worldwide (42 in total).

Deep Purple is and continues to be one of the most influential British bands of all time, consistently touring with sold-out shows all around the globe.

After five decades of records made chiefly of original material, Deep Purple's 22nd studio album consists solely of songs written and previously recorded by other artists: a criminal offense commonly described by the rock police and purists Grand Jury as "doing covers."

The album includes studio recordings of songs previously released by Love, Huey "Piano" Smith, Fleetwood Mac, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles & Quincy Jones, Little Feat, The Yardbirds, Lonnie Donegan/Johnny Horton, Bob Seger System, Cream, plus the "Caught In The Act" medley feat. songs by Freddie King, Booker T. and the M.G.'s, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin and The Spencer Davis Group. For the first time in their career, the album was recorded while not being in the same room.

Turning To Crime is Deep Purple enjoying playing music without commercial plans nor losing their edge and drive. This is Deep Purple coming full circle.

This is 100% Deep Purple.

Vocalist Ian Gillan adds a world-weary tone to the wider-eyed innocence of the Yardbirds' 'Shapes of Things' and spreads some fine down-home spice atop Little Feat's 'Dixie Chicken,' while American-bred axe wizard Steve Morse shreds the curtains out of Eric Clapton's guitar-solo blueprint on Cream's seminal 'White Room.' 'Caught in the Act,' the album-ending, five-song medley, draws keyboardist Don Airey into the spotlight, sprinkling his own flavoring amidst signature organ riffs from the likes of Booker T. Jones, Gregg Allman, and Steve Winwood. Deep Purple have clearly done due diligence by listening like thieves to a wide swath of music sources to pour their own signature sonic sauces into, resulting in proving the dictum that Crime pays handsomely indeed.