One of the most enigmatic figures of music, responsible for an equally mysterious album; Rochester native Damon Del Conte hopped from genre to genre before settling into his niche. Spending much of the 60s working his way through doo-wop, blue-eyed soul, folk rock, and garage, before meeting with guitarist and constant collaborator Charlie Carey, and embracing the dark, bleary haze of psychedelic music that awaited him by the end of the 60s.
His most famous release, 1970's Song Of A Gypsy is legendary among record collectors. Privately pressed at an ultra-exclusive 100 LPs, mint condition copies of the original record go as high as $3500 on the collectible market. More than just a rarity among crate diggers though, Song Of A Gypsy is also Damon at his absolute finest. The album drips with an aura of psychedelic vigor, combining Charlie Carey's sinuous fuzz guitar with Damon's haunting crooned lyrics of yearning, and melancholy doom. To this day, the album is considered a high watermark of psychedelic rock, mixed and recorded so intricately, it belied its origins as a private pressings. Though the album failed to make a household name out of Damon, it cemented his place in music history as an obscure legend. (Alongside other forgotten musicians of the 60s like Sixto Rodriguez, or Shuggie Otis.)
Song Of A Gypsy has been reissued unofficially numerous times in various formats, (Mostly as bootlegs) but there has never been a truly deluxe reissue of the album. Fortunately, the fine folks at Now-Again Records (Who have long specialized in digging up old forgotten classics) were more than happy to oblige. In addition to remastering the album from the ground up, Now-Again have dug up numerous demo recordings and early obscurities from Damon's repertoire, cataloging both his growth as an artist, and transition towards atmospheric psychedelia. Their expanded reissue also comes packaged with a booklet containing extensive liner notes, unpublished photos and images, essays, and an interview with the man himself. Now shipping from Traffic Entertainment.
PRESS FOR SONG OF A GYPSY
(REISSUE & ORIGINAL PRESSING)
"Damon plays up his self-styled “gypsy” persona throughout, delivering a suite of Eastern-inflected pop songs that often evoke a melancholy doom. The album was recorded and mixed in such a pristine manner that it’s hard to believe it was a self-financed vanity project."
– Tiny Mix Tapes' review of the original album
"…There's plenty of searing fuzz guitar, soul-searching, and probing lyrics with a mystical gauze…"
– AllMusic.com's review of the original album
Early Preview of the reissue from The Vinyl Factory
Early Preview from The Independent, featuring a clip of the Damon track "Don't You Feel Me"
