The first solo album released by the former frontman of Mano Negra, Clandestino is an enchanting trip through Latin-flavored worldbeat rock, reliant on a potpourri of musical styles from traditional Latin and salsa to dub to rock & roll to French pop to experimental rock to techno. Chao's voice tends to be a bit nasally, but the best songs ("Mentira," "Mama Call," and the silly novelty "Bongo Bong") here benefit from his infectious, freewheeling delivery which incorporates balladry, chorus vocals, rapping, and tossed-off spoken-word passages. Just about every track has odd sampled bits from what sound like pirate radio-station broadcasts (a possible link to the title). There are so many great ideas on this record that it's difficult to digest in one listen, but multiple plays reveal the great depth of Manu Chao's artistry.© John Bush /TiVo

Available in both 14-track and 32-track versions, Exiliados en la Bahía: Lo Mejor de Maná fills a void, offering up the first major Maná "best-of" set since Esencials landed in 2003. Of course, that series was big and conceptual, dividing the rock en español pioneers' work into three themed discs with rare tracks mixed in. Here, it's two new cuts -- an excellent, heartfelt take of Juan Gabriel's "Hasta Que Te Conocí" plus the uplifting "Un Nuevo Amanecer," a campfire singalong that grows into a full-bodied power ballad -- and then on to the hits and career-defining moments. The sequence of "Labios Compartidos" (epic fan favorite), "Bendita Tu Luz" (sweet bachata with Juan Luis Guerra), and then "Mariposa Traicionera" (sexy and spicy with the delicate butterfly as a metaphor for love and loss) is the versatile beauty of the band in three easy pieces, while elsewhere, there's the punkish reggae-rock ("Clavado en un Bar") they're prone to break out, plus a slight taste of their soft and grand '80s sound ("Rayando el Sol") back when they were saying goodbye to new wave, the Polygram label, and their original name, Sombrero Verde. Some early, arguably lesser hits are missing, and with two decades of Grammy-winning, platinum-selling, and massively influential work to choose from, fans can argue about what's omitted and still have a hard time topping this solid track list. An easy introduction for newcomers or a portable hits set for fans, Exiliados en la Bahía is the superstar "best-of" done right.© David Jeffries /TiVo

Riding high on the success of La Radiolina (2007), his first internationally released studio album in seven years, Manu Chao embarked on a lengthy tour in 2008 with his band, Radio Bemba, that took him around the world. The live album Baïonarena documents a triumphant concert from the tour that took place in Bayonne, a city in southwestern France in the heart of Basque Country. The 33-song concert set is spread across two CDs in audio, with a bonus DVD featuring the entire two-and-a-half-hour concert in video plus the promotional videos from La Radiolina and a half-hour documentary, Carnet de Voyage. Baïonarena spans the entirety of Chao's career, from his days in the band Mano Negra ("Mala Vida," "Sidi H'Bibi," "Casa Babylon," "The Monkey," "Machine Gun," "Hamburger Fields") all the way up to La Radiolina, which is represented by a half-dozen songs spread across the concert. There are also old favorites like the title track from his solo album debut, Clandestino (1998), as well as the hits from his second album, Próxima Estación: Esperanza (2001) -- "Merry Blues," "Me Gustas Tú," and "Mr. Bobby" -- along with a lot of material that was performed on his first live album, Radio Bemba Sound System (2002). All that's left out is material from Sibérie M'Était Contéee (2004), the French-language album that was little heard outside France. While most of the material on Baïonarena should be familiar to longtime fans, the live versions of these songs often diverge from the originals. For instance, "Clandestino" includes a crowd singalong while "La Primavera" (which includes "Me Gustas Tú") veers off into a riotous protest against U.S. president George W. Bush, whom Chao declares to be the world's deadliest terrorist. In some ways, Chao is best heard as a live performer rather than as a studio artist, particularly in terms of energy and crowd involvement (indeed, he seems to draw his energy from the crowd), and so Baïonarena is something of an ideal greatest-hits collection, even if hits like "Me Gustas Tú" aren't performed in a straightforward manner. More than anyone, fans who have heard Chao's albums a hundred times over will enjoy Baïonarena, for the album casts familiar material in a new light. Newcomers, on the other hand, are better off starting with Radio Bemba Sound System, a double-disc live album from six years earlier that was reissued in 2008 on Nacional Records. It's a better introduction to Chao that includes a lot of the same songs as Baïonarena (with the exception of the La Radiolina material, of course), but they're performed with less haste and rearrangement. © TiVo

In July 2002, Manu Chao performed a live show in Japan, ending a worldwide tour carried out with his band, Radio Bemba New System, a multicultural group consisting of ten talented musicians from different countries. From Jamaican reggae to Latin alternative pop/rock, including rock en español, hip-hop, flamenco, and French rock, The Live Album delivers a collection of hits from 1998's Clandestino, 2001's Ultima Estacion Esperanza, and Mano Negra's legacy, the Parisian rock outfit named in honor of an Andalusian anarchist group that served as Manu Chao's breakthrough in the music industry. In addition, the 29-track record features the previously unreleased "Bienvenido a Tijuana," "Rumba de Barcelona," and a version of the classic Afro-Caribbean-inflected hit "Blood and Fire." Recorded at Paris' Grande Halle de La Villette in September 2001, The Live Album is a multilingual and experimental live experience featuring the best of Manu Chao. © Drago Bonacich /TiVo

The first solo album released by the former frontman of Mano Negra, Clandestino is an enchanting trip through Latin-flavored worldbeat rock, reliant on a potpourri of musical styles from traditional Latin and salsa to dub to rock & roll to French pop to experimental rock to techno. Chao's voice tends to be a bit nasally, but the best songs ("Mentira," "Mama Call," and the silly novelty "Bongo Bong") here benefit from his infectious, freewheeling delivery which incorporates balladry, chorus vocals, rapping, and tossed-off spoken-word passages. Just about every track has odd sampled bits from what sound like pirate radio-station broadcasts (a possible link to the title). There are so many great ideas on this record that it's difficult to digest in one listen, but multiple plays reveal the great depth of Manu Chao's artistry.© John Bush /TiVo

Adriana Calcanhotto is by and by establishing herself more firmly in MPB -- not in pop music, where she is already strongly validated. Always a bit uneasy in the landscape of contemporary pop grooves, she always tried a timid approach to MPB on her albums. For her fifth solo release, she chose to record a live performance where she accompanied herself on the violão, almost alone. The album opens with the excellent "E o Mundo Não Se Acabou" (Assis Valente), where she emulates a little of Carmen Miranda's (one of Valente's most faithful interpreters, until the final deception with "Brasil Pandeiro") mannerisms. The opportune release of Manu Chao in Brazil helps to recall his "Clandestino" (1998), sung in Spanish. "Devolva-me" (1966) is a convincing recuperation of a cheesy hit by the Jovem Guarda duo Leno & Lilian. The poetry section is filled with a poem by the Portuguese Mário de Sá Carneiro (with music by her) and another by Waly Salomão, a retrospective of the century. On this album, Calcanhotto re-recorded "Versos" (which had been released by Maria Bethânia in her classic Âmbar) and the previous hits "Esquadros" (1992), "Cariocas" (1994), "Vambora" (1998), and "Vamos Comer Caetano" (1998, with a resounding drum sequence). One of the most beautiful songs is "Dona de Castelo," a nostalgic canção by Jards Macalé/Waly Salomão, theme song of the 1996 film Doces Poderes (Lúcia Murat). This is an album one can call an MPB release with no remorse -- and a very good MPB release.© Alvaro Neder /TiVo

If you are a true connoisseur of Brazilian pop, you can't help but treasure Chico César. The charismatic native of Northeastern Brazil sings and writes about his country with the type of insights that Brazilians expect from greats like Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso. Recorded live in São Paolo, Aos Vivos documents a very intimate performance by César. "Intimate" is definitely the word to describe this recording; the singer/composer (who is heard on guitar) doesn't employ a full band, and that's just as well because the intimate nature of the performances really makes the vocals and the lyrics jump out at you. Even if you don't understand a word of Portuguese, you can feel César's performances of major hits like "A Primeira Vista" (which was recorded by Brazilian superstar Daniela Mercury and became the theme of a popular Brazilian soap opera), "Mulher Eu Sei," and the reggae-influenced "Mama Africa." But if you do speak any Portuguese, it's impossible not to admire his insights. For that matter, those who speak Spanish can easily find themselves appreciating César's lyrics. A Spanish speaker won't understand all of his lyrics if he/she hasn't actually studied Portuguese -- Spanish and Portuguese are quite similar, but hardly identical. Nonetheless, those who know a lot of Spanish should be able to make out some of the lyrics and know what César's songs are about. But regardless of what languages you do or don't speak, this excellent CD is enthusiastically recommended to anyone who is interested in modern Brazilian pop. © Alex Henderson /TiVo