(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)
Artist: The Reds, Pinks And Purples
Album Title: The town that cursed your name
Year released: 2023
Details: seaglass blue
The skinny: From the ‘in case you missed it’ files, I’ll be replaying my top five albums from 2023, albeit in a ‘vinyl love’ post format, every weekend in January and just into February; partially because I love these albums and partially because I have them all on vinyl and want to show off their physical beauty as well. I posted album number five last weekend and today I’ve got album number four: the latest album by Glenn Donaldson’s The Reds, Pinks and Purples, “The town that cursed your name”. I first discovered the project with their third album in 2021 and it topped my best albums chart that year. Since then, I’ve been struggling to keep up with their releases and yet, at least one of their albums have made into my top ten in each of the last two years. I pre-ordered this one from their record label, Slumberland Records’ bandcamp page back in February but with pressing plant issues, I didn’t receive it until June. With the lovely seaglass blue colour (and bonus 7”), though, it was well worth the wait. “The town that cursed your name” is peppy and reverb-drenched and throughout, Donaldson plaintively and romantically sings about the lives and loves of being a struggling musician in San Francisco and in the process, draws us all into his world with his melodic hooks and wistful turn of phrase.
Standout track: “Mistakes (too many to name)”
My (life in) music lists 