Sprayfly

This excellent album follows up Manu Chao’s debut as a solo artist after the breakup of his highly successful former band, Mano Negra. His former albums leaned heavily on a Latin feel but this album takes a new approach, ambitiously mixing in some touches of Reggae.

From Latin to Reggae

Proxima Estación: Esperanza is a real blend of musical roots. Whilst there is still a strong Latin America feel to the music as in his previous album, his songs are also full of reggae rhythms, Jamaican-style brass and even a bit of Trinidadian Calypso. Crazy as he is, Chao has chucked in a whole range of weird sound affects and speeded up vocals which all add to the fun.

An album for Linguists

If you are a linguist then you will love this album. Whilst most of the songs are in Spanish, there are a couple of French and English songs too. If that isn’t enough, Chao often switches language half way through a phrase in his songs, an innovative approach that is highly entertaining for the listener.

Top 3 Songs

The best track on this album has to be “Trapped By Love”. This song has a very catchy rhythm and really gets inside my head. If you are not used to Chao’s albums, you should know that each track blends into the next, in this case, “Le Rendez Vous” follows up and has the same rhythm as the precedent. Chao sings in a blend of English and French and takes you through the streets of Paris. I juggle along to these two tracks every morning and tend to have the lyrics stuck in my head for the rest of the day!

Chao’s tribute to Bob Marley, “Mr Bobby” is an exceptional song and evidently has a strong reggae feel to it. The other two songs aside, this would be my favourite song on the album. If you get the chance, listen to the live version on “Radio Bemba Soundsystem“, its even better.

The Verdict

Whilst I prefer both “Clandestino” and “Radio Bemba Soundsystem” for their originality, Proxima Estacion does not disappoint. Despite two of the tracks on the album using the same rhythm as “King of the Bongo” from Clandestino, this is still Chao as we all know him, fun!