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Now, like an intermittent short-wave transmission that suddenly catches a clear and vivid frequency, Radiolina comes into sharp focus, defining a mature sound in a mesmerizing collection of 21 new tracks.
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An album packed with tuneful songs that would sound great coming out of radio speakers.
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La Radiolina reaches out beyond it's core audience to a universal constituency, not so much a world music record as a global-rock mission statement.
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La Radiolina emerges as a delicious bouillabaisse of gypsy punk, reggae and countless indigenous sounds, expertly stirred by a band of brawling pirates who plunder each port for musical spices and then add them to the cauldron.
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And though he sings mostly in French or Spanish, Chao's music is so sonically vivid, so gloriously evocative, translation seems almost superfluous.
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He's a one-man musical melting pot who synthesizes several continents' worth of ideas, sounds, and slogans into one swinging all-night dance party. This is internationalism at its funkiest.
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This is a speedier pop suite suitable for dancing or straightening up the flat.
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Lead single 'Rainin in Paradize' alone should propel Chao (née Oscar Tramor) into the kind of stateside fame he's long enjoyed in Europe and South America.
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With poetic melancholy, absurdist whimsy and direct shout-outs to a world no more just than it was on his last album, there's enough to carry fans until Chao's next one.
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The jumble of languages and sounds gives La Radiolina the feel of a noisy, colorful street bazaar where there's chaotic beauty on the surface and a certain poetic logic that runs underneath.
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It's an anarchic mix which is fun, exuberant and passionate.
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One of the most poignant protest albums released since the U.S. invaded Iraq.
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Chao’s jovial, chatty, Spanish-English-French crooning helps the ADD sensibility flow into something that feels like a happy incantation rather than a protester’s harangue against George Bush.
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On La Radiolina, an unmistakable molotov cocktail of fierce resistance anthems, Manu Chao continues to do what he does best.
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The album is not as wholly satisfying as either "Clandestino" or "Esperanza," mostly due to a handful of truncated, underdeveloped tracks toward the end, but it's still full of excellent songs and inspired collisions.
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Chao is at best when merging his Latin/salsa influences with squealing, screeching garage-rock.
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Eventually La Radiolina's more guitar-based sonics will feel inevitable too, especially once you follow the same dynamic riff through three consecutive songs up front.
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VibeHe's largely a victim of his own goodwill, sounding consistently exuberant, even when the message--'Politik Kills,' say--seems to beg for more. [Nov 2007, p.98]
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A bit jumbled together and disorienting, but overall just about as rejuvenating as anything.
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It's a safe album, almost exactly what you'd expect from Chao. The artist continues to be the best (perhaps only) provider out there of Clash-inspired polylingual punk rock, but for a musician who built his solo reputation on quirkiness and innovation, the disc feels a bit flat.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 19
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Mixed: 2 out of 19
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Negative: 2 out of 19
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DanielleS.Oct 30, 2007
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TamaraN.Oct 16, 2007It takes me to so many places in the world in the stagnant air of my small living room!
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AndrejSep 27, 2007If it is possible, I would vote not just 10, but 10+! It is surprisingly sad, but in same time very vibrant and positive CD.