Album artwork courtesy of the label
On the turntable
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Un gelato al limon
Paolo Conte · 1979
A lawyer from Asti who gave up the bar for the bar, and became the most Continental man ever to enter a recording studio.
Why it matters
Conte sings in a voice like gravel poured through a cigarette, over arrangements that suggest a provincial dance band with unexpectedly excellent taste. He writes about seaside towns out of season, women who have left, and the particular melancholy of Italian summers — and he does it with a wink. Nobody else sounds remotely like this.
The Continental setting
Driving inland from the coast in late September with the windows down and no fixed plan for lunch.
Start here
- 01Un gelato al limon
- 02Bartali
- 03Genova per noi
Italy's wittiest songwriter at his most quietly devastating.
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