Low Estate

Sixteen Horsepower, 16 Horsepower | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 27, 1998)
• Original Release Date: January 27, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B000002GP5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,034 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sixteen Horsepower's singer David Eugene Edwards brings such a mix of vitriol and faith to his music that were he born in a different place and time, I imagine he could have been a snake preacher. His songs explore that delicate and often explosive relationship between religion and real life, often with dire consequences: "I beseech the Lord clear my head / before once again I scar the soul of that girl in my bed," he sings on "Brimstone Rock" moments before letting loose a screech channeled from the devil by way of Nick Cave. The music is blistering, a take on hill-music that the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion could've created had they been raised on moonshine and pig snouts. --Tod Nelson

Product Description

Import edition of the alt-country act's critically acclaimed third album, originally released in 1998. Includes 2 bonus tracks 'Ditch Digger' & 'The Partisan'. Universal. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appalachia calling me home....., December 16, 1999

By 

"jgrizzard" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Low Estate (Audio CD)

First heard them through a recommendation email from Amazon. Decided to buy Low Estate, and I'm glad I did. Some of the best pure, spiritual music happening today. The origin of the spirits, though,sound to be perhaps a little south of heaven. Listening to these guys makes me feel like I'm in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. I can close my eyes and visual a revival tent replenish with whiskey, young nubile girls who tremble in fear. A few trembling adults too. The music, ah... the music. Great to hear banjo's, fiddles and other backwood instruments blended with a kickin' drum,bass & guitar set. And that voice too. Man he sounds downright scary. Sounds like he knows things that some people just weren't meant to know.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this or go to Hell, July 21, 2000

By 

Aggie Angst (Deep Dark South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Low Estate (Audio CD)

How else do you intro a Christian Rock band? :)

A friend of mine introduced me to 16 Horsepower. I was doubtful because I'm not Christian and I couldn't imagine myself buying a CD by a professed Christian Rock band, now I'm a dyed in the wool fan.

Many times the lyrics blur the lines between religion and sex and sometimes it's hard to tell if Edwards is singing about Jesus or his girlfriend. Usually it's both. The songs will probably not point you to a cloud where you sit with a harp, more likely they will land you square on the earth and into a stomp dance. There is also some profanity, so those of delicate sensibilities had best leave this band off.

The music is some of the best I've heard lately. If you've never heard a rock and roll banjo, grab this quick. It's some of the meanest banjo playing I've ever heard. One song will sound like blue grass, then the next track is pure rock. The band is drum tight and really good at what they do. Their sound is the most original going at this writing. I can't recommend them highly enough.

On the downside, I can't help but wish Jesus didn't figure quite so highly in their words, but then I guess they wouldn't be who they are. If you've got the cash, get all three CD's. It's worth it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Anachronistic Christian Joy Division, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Low Estate (Audio CD)

Denver's 16 Horsepower have everything that the current irony ladened 90s pop bands lack - conviction, passion, and some damn fine rocking tunes. Singer/Lyricist David Eugene Edwards creates a world of extremely nasty spiritualism with a fire & brimstone passion that makes an agnostic like myself envious of the faithful. Their instrumentation is deliciously anachronistic, employing concertinas, a hurdy-gurdy and some fine banjo playing along with the more traditional guitar-bass-drums line up, with some excellent organ-playing by producer/P.J. Harvey associate John Parish. That they are as of mid-February without a record label is an atrocity. However, a band with this level of raw talent and power will not be silenced by the verities of the business world. Side Note: I saw them opening for Nick Cave here in L.A., and their performance nearly matched old Saint Nick's intenisty and sheer overwhelming power. Nearly.