Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Manu Chao, ‘Radio Bemba Sound System’ 3/8/08 Are you ready for this? If you’re not feeling in the party mood, I suggest you turn back now. Radio Bemba Sound System is an explosive 29-track live album from multi-lingual leftie musical maestro, Manu Chao and you will have never heard anything quite like it. Flitting from French to Spanish, English to even German- all supported by reggae beats, African rhythm, sweet Mediterranean guitars and a general upbeat tempo- you simply don’t know what’s coming next. Originally released in 1992, the album is named after Chao’s excellent backing band and features random collections of his work from two previous albums and also from his punk band roots in Mano Negra- all of course given a Latin American makeover. There are samples galore thrown in for good measure as well with sounds as varied as crowd noise, maracas and even old-school lasers, in amongst the linguistic madness of Chao singing about everything from love to his fondness for marijuana. Like any album of this magnitude there are of course, filler tracks to pad it out and make the record flow but this for me is one of the stumbling blocks of this collection. It doesn’t flow- it can’t possibly with Chao’s style and just ends up sounding like a rather manic collection. The live experience doesn’t translate well either- exactly why Notting Hill Carnival doesn’t bring out a live CD- nothing could possibly substitute attendance. Highlights of the album include the surprisingly mellow ‘Clandestine’ which does suit the live style better; ‘Machine Gun’ and ‘Peligro’- fast and upbeat tunes which translate as fun in any language. However the over-the-top political agenda, robotic voices and the Spanish quotations certainly do nothing to endear the album to a wider audience than its hotspots of southern Europe and Latin America. For fans of reggae, ska, world-music, big-band tunes and musical mash-ups, this could certainly add something different to your library. It’s hard not to admire Chao’s outspoken and varied style and a fair portion of the album does work well, but compared to seeing Chao live at Glastonbury this year, Radio Bemba Sound System simply doesn’t compare. 5/10 CM Text Box: Links and affiliates Contact Me