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Album Details

• Artist: Manu Chao
• Album: Clandestino
• Label: Virgin
• Year of Release: 1998
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: jpenso on 2005-01-19

After the dissolution of the punk band Mano Negra in the mid 90's Manu Chao took off traveling across south america with a guitar and a four track in 1998 the singer came out with his solo debut Clandestino. On this first album the enigmatic singer creates a nice blend of Caribbean and Latin American sounds, ranging from calypso to reggae. The melodies are simple but incredibly catchy; this album proves the point that less is more. The album is very playful with many random sound effects and samples from movies and fake radio broadcasts worked into the tracks this is something that would become a staple of Manu Chao's sound. As a singer Manu Chao does not have a voice that will wow listeners with incredible range but he does convey great emotion and it goes well with the simple structure of the songs The songs are playful and well written even while writing in three different languages (Spanish, English, and french.) The album breezes along with real ease, a great listen if you just want something light and breezy to hear while relaxing, but careful listening reveals that Manu Chao is a gifted writer, masterfully capturing the Latin American experience from life as an ilegal immigrant to the politcal struggle that troubles many Latin nations, the music just sounds like Latin America. This is an incredible record that gained shamefully little attention when it came out. Manu Chao has grown to become one of the larger than life figures of the Latin American Alternative rock scene his work with Mano Negra alone warrants this but with Clandestino he cemented himself individually as one of the most creative and captivating artists of the scene.

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