Manu Chao's La Radiolina

Manu Chao is like the Jack Sparrow of his music genre, which is a little hard to classify. In other words, people love Chao and Chao himself is both eccentric and shockingly skilled and talented.

Chao sings in multiple languages and has eclectic styles. His music boasts Caribbean influences, as well as influence from the Clash and street and bar music. This musician has been through many bands and is now working under his own name, which is not actually his real name. And while as an artist he uses his own name, he is actually a massively talented bandleader who has been enjoying phenomenal fame in Europe and South America.

Manu Chao's music is most often heard at parties and bars and on streets. His beats are contemporary in the extreme and, frankly, country music fans would probably see Chao as the devil. What is more, Manu Chao does not have any problem with taking an old song and re-working it or simply using bits of it in new music. While it would be a disservice to Chao to categorize his music into a single slot, most people would probably call his tunes Latin party music.

La Radiolina is Chao's latest effort. It is similar in style and execution to much of his older work. There are 21 tracks on this great big album, and we can discuss some of the highlights of the album here.

Probably the first standout track on the album is "Politik Kills." This song has a nice, smooth reggae beat that gets you moving while at the same time makes strong statements about how politics are basically violence.

"Bessoin de la lune" is another highlight of the album. Not so much a party tune as it is solid rock and roll, the drums take a back seat to the electronic instruments.

"Me llaman calle" is pure Latin heart-string pulling music. With a nice beat and the acoustic guitar we hear from mariachi bands, this song will get the foot tapping.

A final highlight of La Radiolina is "Y Ahora Que" which means "Now What?" With this song, Chao shows his rock and roll/punk skills in spades. With a bit of anger added to Chao's always upbeat sound, this is a unique addition to the album.

All in all, La Radiolina is a nice addition to Chao's huge catalogue of music. The only real fault in this album is simply that some of the songs have almost the exact same sound. Other than that, it's a good CD that is well worth the money. It is also probably the album that will get Chao a solid following in the USA.