It looks as if, on the average, less live albums are being made nowadays. Is that a bad thing? Well ... usually live albums are fillers during a creative deadlock or nice knick-knacks for the regular multitude of fans. Hoarse, however, is among those rare exceptional cases, that rise above a live registration and form an indispensable world in itself. Like, say, The Band's Rock Of Ages or James Brown's first Live At The Apollo.

For the greater part recorded on one night in their home base, Denver, Colorado. A night on which the ominous look of the Lord must have been cast down witheringly upon godfearing David Eugene Edwards and his men. Not exactly a gay dog, this Edwards. But the passionate delivery, hard-faced bandoneon, galloping banjo and scorching slide guitar in his searing folk hymns from an undefined past, have a purifying effect and lift us up out of the dark.

Including a cover of the Creedence hit Bad Moon Rising, that will scare John Fogerty to death; a rendering of the Gun Club's Fire Spirit, that will cause Jeffrey Lee Pierce to ask the devil to dance with a grin and a version of Joy Division's Day Of The Lords that will make Ian Curtis rise from his grave converted. Sixteen Horsepower has a verve that is quite rare in pop music.