CD Reviews

Manu Chao

La Radiolina | Nacional/Because

By JEFF TAMARKIN | September 24, 2007

2.0 Stars

What’s made earlier albums by the Paris-born, Barcelona-based, multilingual Chao — 1998’s Clandestino, 2001’s Próxima Estación: Esperanza, 2002’s live Radio Bemba Sound System — so thrilling was their unpredictability. Chao’s bold, kitchen-sink approach — some punk, some Latin, reggae, and ska, bits of folk, vocals in several languages, random sounds, lefty politics, street noise, and found voices — was unlike anything else. But if those early albums were a radio set on scan, touching down for a couple of minutes here and there, La Radiolina is more like satellite narrowcasting. Chao has always turned repetition into a virtue — he’s obsessed with loops, and his lyrical and melodic themes are often recycled, as are his rhythms. But on this 21-song disc, he appears to be at a loss for new ideas: songs are interchangeable, incorporating guitar lines, static tempos, and chords that rarely vary. Sirens blare, perhaps to punctuate the sense of urgency and despair in the lyrics. But too often the sophomoric setting blunts their impact — the two back-to-back English-language songs, “Politik Kills” and “Rainin in Paradize,” cover roughly the same ground. Chao has been an innovator since he jump-started the Latin alternative movement with the Spanish punk band Mano Negra 20 years ago. La Radiolina is the most rockist album of his solo career — and also the most disappointing.

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