La Radiolina Music Cd

Manu Chao - La Radiolina

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La Radiolina      Artist : Manu Chao      List Price : $16.98 USD        Your Price : $12.49 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2007-09-04      Studio : Nacional Records      Label : Nacional Records      Avg. Customer Rating : (38 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for La Radiolina      Good album, with a slight escape into mainstream popularity      Rating:      Quite a good album, traditional to Manu Chao music, with a slight escape into mainstream. Some songs seem like reworks or versions of the same song done in different ways. Good for listening while riding in a car. It is certainly worth listening to, but if you are not a real Manu Chao dedicated fan you might find it slighlty repetitive. The real value of this album is that some of the widely played songs can bring Manu Chao closer to listeners who were not that familiar with his music and lead them to explore his other songs.     Customer Reviews for La Radiolina Cd      This is brilliant!!!      Rating:      I heard this album a few months ago on the inflight entertainment of a long flight I was on. I'd heard most of what else was on display and wanted something new. Well, first thing I decided on listening to it was that I was going to get every other album of his. It is fantastic! Manu Chao is of French/Spanish origin, and sings in both languages, sometimes in English also. His music is generally upbeat, party music with influences of Punk, Ska, and even Polka, and political lyrical undertones. "La Radiolina" is Italian for small radio. Opening is the rousing Polka tinged "13 dias". "Tristeza Maleza" is a bouncy rocker with electronic flourishes and lyrics that mention George Bush (I have a hunch it's not too flattering, but it's sung in Spanish so what do I know). "Politik kills" is a slower horn sprinkled affair with English lyrics listing the ills of Politics; lies, violence, blood, jeez, this chap must have been around during the last elections here.:-) "Rainin' in paradise" is a frenetic affair with driving synths, woozy effects and lyrics in English touching on atrocities in various parts of the world; Congo, Jerusalem, Palestine and Baghdad included. Similar in feel is very brief "The bleeding clown" with English lyrics telling the tale of a sad clown who can no longer get a laugh. "Me llaman calle" is a beautiful ballad with Spanish guitars tumbling and cascading upon an incredible groove and gentle hand claps. It is one of my favourites. The ballad "Mundorevés" does remind me ever so faintly of "Hotel California" by The Eagles. Other favourites of mine are the bouncy horn adorned "El hoyo" with squealing guitars in the background and a slowed Ska break, and the gently lilting Flamenco-ish "La Vida Tómbola" with nice mariachi horns and hand claps, it's apparently a tribute to the footballer Maradona. The brief energetic "Panik panik" utilises siren effects to add to the urgency. I must mention that this song utilizes a similar backing track to "Rainin' In Paradize", "El Kitapena", "Siberia" (sung in English) and "Mama Cuchara", but each bringing out a different flavour. "Piccola Radiolina" is a beautiful guitar/horn instrumental. The gentle Cuban sounding "A cosa" features Chao's first attempt at singing in Italian. If I have one complaint with this album, it's that a lot of the songs are too short, fading away as you're just getting into them. It's nice to see someone can have so much fun while being so serious. Hopefully Manu Chao won't remain just a curiosity to most for much longer.