Anyone know the Spanish word for “TORTURE?”

Let the record show I had high hopes for Manu Chao. The sticker on the outside of the CD read, “Manu Chao is the ringmaster of a multicultural, cross-generational, genre-busting circus that can whip tens of thousands of people into a frenzy even if they don’t speak the same language.”

Holy shit. After reading that I half expected to put the CD in and hear some sort of pied piper. And to immediately be overtaken by an irresistible sound only to wake up on a beach in a crowd of 250,000 wearing a glow stick around my neck. Sadly, I found nothing of the sort.

At first blush I was surprised how central guitar was to the sound of La Radiolina. This had me quite pleased initially as the idea of strong, rhythm guitar with some magnificent sounds and Spanish vocal could have been interesting.

The main problem with Manu Chao’s La Radiolina is you go in expecting this exotic cocktail, and you leave with beer in a plastic cup. And the only standout track on the entire disc is “Besoin De La Lune.”

Maybe I need to go back and listen to his previous work to understand the glowing praise on the sticker, and the recommendation from my good pal (lets call her Carol). Because after listening to La Radiolina a few times through it may just be the worst of the 52 discs I’ve reviewed this year.

I’ll admit when you first press the play button there is a curiosity. A heavy pickin’ guitar starts off the country rumble “13 Dias” which sounds like The Dukes of Hazzard, on Telemundo.

The first few tracks were interesting with real guitar complete with a little Brad Paisley bend to it. Despite the language barrier, I could tell Manu Chao had something to say. On “Tristeza Maleza” he takes on George Bush, while “Politik Kills” is a reggae romp through the issues. Chao seemed to have his own brand of United Nations pop.

But La Radiolina quickly turns to gonzo noise.

Lot of the songs here contain the same basic elements of a fast plucking guitar, layered voices and ambient noises in the background.

“Mondoreves” is standard Spanish fare before bringing in the horns on “El Hoyo” along with police sirens and effects.

I’m convinced if you were to listen to La Radiolina long enough it would result in a multiple personality disorder. Nearly every song on the record prominently features the sound of rolling tongues, people screaming, laughing, video game effects and babies crying in the background. Good times!

Even when a glimpse of piano soothes you strange effects, buzzing sounds and the like, interrupt it. Towards the end Chao does deliver a couplet of sanity with “La Vida Tombola” and “Mala Fama.” But most of La Radiolina is water torture.

“Panik Panik” is a cluttered song in a hurry to get nowhere featuring sirens. “Sone Otro Mundo” can’t even make it one minute and nineteen seconds without space invaders.

As a whole La Radiolina is very redundant. There are only a couple sounds here and they’re pasted together in different ways across twenty-one tracks of varying length.

So I’ve deduced that the same person who authored the CD sticker for La Radiolina does the PR for Kim Jong-Il. (The "Great Leader" routinely shoots three or four holes-in-one per round, the government-controlled media reported.)

“Besoin De La Lune” may be the only thing on here that isn’t a complete Frankenstein. Seems like this track was the original chassis, trouble is Chao stretches it into an album of scrap metal.