MANU CHAO – PROXIMA ESTACION: ESPERANZA (2LP + CD)

Originally released in 2001. Gatefold double LP with a CD copy of the album. “The French-raised Spaniard distilled the scattershot Europop-rock of Mano Negra into 1998’s DIY, polyglot Clandestino, a word-of-mouth smash throughout Latin Europe and then Latin America. Clandestino was warm, sprightly, melancholy, palpably humane. This is all that with magic on top, reprising and varying a small store of infectious tunes into a motley suite segued and differentiated with sound effects, funny voices, surprise guest instruments, and spoken-word samples. The pulse is Marley sans Africa-reggae, whiter than the Bellamy Brothers, ska liter than polka. The mood is festive in the urbane, liberal, and internationalist manner of Chao’s new home, the pan-European haven Barcelona, a city that resisted Franco so vivaciously for so long that it assumes entertainment coexists with dread. Just in time — Euroworld! Never thought I’d hear it done right. A” –Robert Christgau