REV NEIL DOWN: When A Wrong Turns Right

Rev Neil Down

When A Wrong Turns Right

© 2003 Retsina Glow /ASCAP (829757176727)

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The Rev Neil Down's slightly left-of-center music crackles with excitement, and his lyrics bristle with raucous offbeat humor, irony and occasional tenderness straddling stylistic fences between minimal blues, folk, rock, and country. Bob Cianci

tracks

1 Xalapa Linda
2 From Folkestone For Calais
3 The Big Brother
4 Saint Jack's Cadillac
5 Something About Forever
6 She Lets Me Do
7 Long Before Tonight
8 Whippin' Boy
9 Part Of Your Heart
10 Sometimes Paradise
11 The Blaze
12 She's Talking To You

notes

''WHEN A WRONG TURNS RIGHT "
The young lad, Rev Neil Down who was once spirited into gigs by the late-eternally-great Blues Man Albert Collins a.k.a. "The Iceman" in the mid 1970's has traveled quite a considerable distance since those early days. Having just returned from a very successful tour of Switzerland and Ireland with his musical partner and aide-de-campe, the Canadian born phenomenon, singer/songwriter/guitarist Lahna Deering. a.k.a. Cave Baby (who, the Rev fondly refers to as "Real Maple Sugar") What Better Place Than Ireland, the land of poets and scholars! Where, after years of what could have been merely wishful speculation, Rev Neil Down has at last been reunited, and collaborated with his long time comrade, Ulster guitar hero, Henry McCullough. It was Henry McCullough, a lifetime achievement award recipient, and the only Irishman to play Woodstock! (with Joe Cocker and The Grease Band). Paul McCartney And Wings, Ronnie Lane, Marianne Faithful, Donovan, Eric Burden etc. etc.) who generously took time out from his touring schedule to not only choreograph, but expedite The Rev.'s new album, "When A Wrong Turns Right". These twelve sparkling tracks are yet more fresh evidence on the power of celestial navigation!
Rev Neil Down along with Henry McCullough, James Delaney Laurence Doherty, Percy Robinson, Lahna Deering and Billy Robinson make-up "When A Wrong Turns Right ! "

reviews

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  • Rev. Neil Down is my hero.
    author: Billy Whizz

    After hearing a few snippits of the Rev.singing and Henry McCulloughs playing,in various places I had to have this cd. And boy is it good.Words and sounds come togeather sooooooo well,this is mighty stuff.

  • Viva the Lizard King!
    author: Broo23

    Yowza! The Lizard King journeys to Armenia and then returns via Graceland...! Touching the blues, country, roots rock & riddim...! Keep 'er up!

  • Unique Find
    author: vk

    I bought this for a friend. Like some others, I heard it on public radio and knew it would make the perfect gift for my bluegrass/jam band loving friend. This album has a well knit unique sound and the recipient loves it. Thanks CD Baby for carrying it! Worth the trouble to find.

  • worth the effort it took to find it
    author: H. C. Morgan

    Heard a fragment of the CD on public radio and had to have it. It grows on you. Find it, Buy it.

  • When a Wrong Turns Right is gruff, big, smooth and emotive at a turn and will be
    author: RICK SKIDMORE

    Some day, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Nick Cave may stroll into Sun Records and cut an intimate session to be dubbed The Next Million Dollar Quartet. While this dream is implausible, Rev. Neil Down's incredible barroom testament gives hope to the possibility. When a Wrong Turns Right is gruff, big, smooth and emotive at a turn and will be passed around to thirsty souls like a community whiskey bottle behind a skid-row pawnshop. Conceived in Down's Unabomber-styled shack in Alaska and recorded in Ireland, the album contains surprisingly accessible tunes. The good Reverend knows the secrets of evangelists like the overlooked Preacher Jack: Convict, then offer redemption. Sordid tales such as "Whippin' Boy" and "Sometimes Paradise" are of the leaving and adulterous sort. Down implicates himself with lines like "He said I just met you/But you seem preoccupied/It's as if you was running from some kind of trouble/Or somebody else's bride." When beauty rears its ugly head on the altar call "She's Talking to You," Down's sentiment is understated, not sappy. The simple moment beats out any gushing love-song idealism with the couplet "When you said I was your best friend/The tide rose to my eyes." Once absolved, the Rev tends to the flock in "The Big Brother," attempting to keep the wolves away from a teasing teen sibling: "You'd better be a good sister/Or I could end up black and blue/I might lose a chiclet or two." Just as clever as the lyrics are the time changes in "She Lets Me Do" which borders on prog-rock before shuffling back home to its folk beginnings. The natural warmth of Down's rough voice is comforting and unexpectedly complemented by the innocence of Lahna Deering's heavenly hosting, while sorrowful pedal steel and desperate electric blues drive the soul-searching hymns "Part of Your Heart" and "Saint Jack's Cadillac." Keyboardist James Delaney has Jimmy Swaggart on one shoulder and his cousin Jerry Lee on the other as gospel organ and righteous piano give way to boogie-woogie backsliding. Prolific Irish guitarist Henry McCullough plays -- or downplays -- with more subtlety than his extensive background would imply. McCullough's biography is almost a credibility risk because of the high-profile performers with whom he's been associated, from Pink Floyd to Paul McCartney. The guitar leads fit the songs tastefully without any showboating. His country breakdowns on "Xalapa Linda" are classic Rick Nelson stuff, applied only where needed, and the smart conservation of notes leaves a desire for more. Overall, the arrangements and the vocal phrasings on Down's latest are spacious, like classic Van Morrison, with overlapping instrumentation and rich sound separation. Like a drunk in a midnight choir, When a Wrong Turns Right makes a fellow want to belly up to the altar and receive the Alcoholy Spirit. westword.com | originally published: December 4, 2003

  • Damn!
    author: Heather Lovelorn - Music Prospectors LLC

    I have been to the mountaintop! Rev Down, Lahna Deering and Henry McCullough and Company took me there. This CD is incredible. A masterwork for sure. It's got it all. Tension -release - incredible musicianship. This is some of the best work any of these folks have done and that's saying a whole lot - especially as it applies to Henry McCullough - who has backed McCartney, Cocker and other legends of Rock and Roll.

  • A real treasure. My favorite CD of the year - and maybe the last several years.
    author: hillbillynation

    Slightly bent at times - and most definitely off-centre, The Mighty Rev Neil Down has enlisted the help of Irish Guitar legend Henry McCullough, holed up in Europe for awhile, emerged with what may be his Masterpiece. The songs are straight from a wide-open heart. The level of talent is astonishing, and the overall feel harkens back to some of the greatest of the 70's productions ( Before image outweighed talent). All that's keeping The Rev and company from being recognized as a major force in music has been the difficulty in finding ears for his voice - but that's about to change.

  • The Rev. and Miss. Deering are sent from above.
    author: Seth Perka

    Thank you for putting out such an amazing album. Your voices and Henry's playing is not to far from heaven.

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