Proxima Estacion: Esperanza

1	Merry Blues 3:36
2	Bixo 1:52
3	Eldorado 1997 1:29
4	Promiscuity 1:35
5	La Primavera 2:23
6	Me Gustas Tu 1:52
7	Denia 4:00
8	Mi Vida 4:39
9	Trapped by Love 2:32
10	Le Rendez Vous 1:54
11	Mr. Bobby 1:56
12	Papito 3:49
13	La Chinita 2:51
14	La Marea 1:33
15	Homens 2:16
16	La Vacaloca 3:18
17	Infinita Tristeza 3:56

Barnes & Noble

We all know what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. But when the supremely movable Manu Chao -- the musical nomad who claimed to be "lost in the century" on his sleeper 1998 hit Clandestino -- meets the unyielding forces of time and aging, the results are far more subtle. The former provocateur behind the influential French band Mano Negra made fervid musical miscegenation his hallmark in the '80s. Punk rock, Latin rhythm, Arabic folk songs, African chants, country music, and more collided in the high-energy hybrid that stoked the Latin alternative scene from Spain to Mexico to Argentina. Clandestino, Chao's first post-Mano Negra effort after a few years spent wandering through Africa and Latin America, revealed a more intimate side. Delicately assembled from acoustic tracks recorded all over the world, the album featured a dreamlike repetition of rhymes, melodies, and imagery. Flash forward three years to Proxima Estación: Esperanza -- Chao has gotten older and wiser, and for the first time, he seems to have settled down -- and that's not a bad thing at all. As its title ("Next Stop: Hope" -- it's a Spanish subway recording) indicates, it's sunnier and more playful than Clandestino, even as it continues Chao's acoustic-based, roving-reporter method of songwriting. The samples mostly hail from Chao's new turf, Barcelona, where his Pakistani neighbors, his Brazilian friends, and even the dogs barking in the alley all find their way into his songs, as do the melodies from Clandestino itself. Whimsical wordplay and clever samples abound; and the childlike melodies indeed make for fine children's music (provided the tots speak English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Arabic), to Chao's professed delight. Esperanza may lack the breathtaking novelty of its iconoclastic predecessor and the existensial moodiness of the eternal wanderer. But Manu Chao at home is still Manu Chao, and that means you can count on a sonic journey unlike any other. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Clandestino, Manu Chao's first solo effort, owed its greatness to its character. It was a minimalistic, yet filled with experimentation, album. But, what's most distinctive, it was honest, direct, intimate: the personal diary of someone who had traveled a lot, not only around Latin America but through life. Unfortunately, Chao seems to lose his way a little bit in Esperanza. Apparently intended to be a continuation of what started in Clandestino, it ends being just a clone of it. The reiteration of ideas and formulas takes away from Esperanza everything that made of Clandestino a memorable piece of work. The problem with Esperanza is that Chao, instead of deepening what he proposed in his first album, seems to overfly the surface of his ideas. The consequence of this is that he transforms charm into cliché, leaving the listener with a very light flavor. Anyway, Esperanza still has a bunch of great songs ("Mr Bobby," "Mi Vida," "Trapped By Love," "Me Gustas Tú," "Bixo") and good lyrics ("Mi Vida") which amply justify its listening. Dedicated fans will find that Esperanza is not what they were expecting, yet it's really easy-going and accessible so it will end working for them as well as for casual listeners. ~ Alberto Moreno de la Fuente, All Music Guide