La Radiolina

Manu Chao – La Radiolina
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/8/07
Multi-lingual, pan-cultural, 3rd solo album from the outspoken Spanish/French grass roots star. Most tracks involve layers and layers of sound, multiple voices (and often languages) and very hard to define combinations of musical concepts. Almost all tracks start very suddenly and fade at the end, which makes listening to the whole album a bit unsettling. Lots of pretty guitars and sirens. Whew!
No FCCs that I could make out. I like 3 and 12 best, but all are good.
1. 2:36 **fast multi-guitar hard folk (?!) in Spanish.
2. 2:54 **uptempo steady rock beat with guitars and occasional electronic squeeps, pretty vocals, spoken message to George Bush, in Spanish.
3. 3:02 ****midtempo chugging beat with a hint of Reggae. Cool combination of vocals, in English.
4. 3:41 ***uptempo 4/4 beat, rock with a hint of Ska, in English. Energetic and danceable, if a bit apocalyptic.
5. 1:54 **fast, multi-guitar hard folk, almost C&W picking, in French.
6. 1:55 **uptempo, chugging 4/4 but a bit Latin in feel, in Spanish. Music fades at end to reveal jolly backing vocals.
7. 3:14 ***midtempo flamenco-based hip wiggler, a bit relaxed, in Spanish.
8. 2:14 **midtempo relaxed folky groove with trumpets, in French and Italian.
9. 1:54 **rather uptempo post-punk, in English.
10. 1:48 **midtempo relaxed folky shuffle, in Spanish.
11. 3:22 **uptempo post-punk/Ska with trumpets and sirens, in Spanish. A bit chaotic and noisy. Turns into downtempo and comparatively mellow Reggae after 2 minutes, then back.
12. 3:16 ****very pretty midtempo Latin shuffle with Spanish guitar, pretty vocals in Spanish. Builds a lot of energy and sound.
13. 4:07 **guitars and mandolins, trumpets, very little beat, in Spanish. Ends with spoken word.
14. 1:46 **fast post-punk with sirens, in French. Sound bounces from one side to another, intentionally headachy.
15. 2:47 ***pretty folky guitars, lovely singing in Spanish, a bit of rap.
16. 1:08 **just several finger-picked guitars, very sweet, no vocals. Fades into electronics and silence for last 10 seconds.
17. 1:45 **uptempo 4/4 post punk, in Spanish.
18. 1:42 **fast Latin punk with a bit of Ska, more sirens, in Spanish.
19. 2:04 ***fast rock ‘n’ roll, in English and Spanish and Portuguese.
20. 1:19 **terribly pretty fingerpicked guitars, slight hints of electronics, no vocals.
21. 2:25 **midtempo with a hint of Latin and Reggae, in Portuguese.