Manu Chao's road to Clandestino and Proxima Estación: Esperanza begins here with Mano Negra's swan song album. Conceptually, it marks the first use of radio and TV broadcast samples to create sound collages between tracks so the songs emerge like they would if you were station surfing on the car radio. Lyrically, it's the birth of the internationalist Manu Chao, as overt political messages largely replace the previous rebel rocker sentiments. Musically, Mano Negra returns to the manic rhythmic drive of Puta's Fever and ups the reggae, ska, and Latin ante after testing more mainstream rock waters on King of Bongo. But Casa Babylon goes one step beyond Puta's Fever by crashing together different styles and even lyrics in different languages w ... See more