A Record Collector's Guide

Redlight

Redlight

Hellcat 80403-1 LP / 80403-2 CD, released 1997

Hellcat 0403-2 CD (Europe)

Epic/Sony ESCA-6828 CD (Japan)

Pirates Press ‎PPR167 LP, released 2017-19 (U.S.)

Jump Up! SPTAPE005 Cassette (U.S.)

Something big happened in 1997: Tim Armstrong got the go-ahead to form Hellcat Records, a subsidiary of Epitaph. When this happened, it shifted the balance of power in the ska world tremendously. Hellcat went out and snatched up a good number of top ska bands in one shot: The Slackers, Hepcat, and The Pietasters all made the jump at the same time (along with The Gadjits). The Slackers's second album, Redlight, was their first on Hellcat. I consider this album to be basically perfect. It is one of my all-time favorite albums by any artist, with no exaggeration. Available on black vinyl from the start. Re-pressed many times, I'm sure, but each Hellcat pressing looked the same, so it's impossible to tell. The original black vinyl version remains easy to procure.

Then, 2017 rolled around. Pirates Press started cranking out re-presses of Redlight. These got out of control quickly. All of these came with foil-stamped sleeves, art prints, and some previously unavailable digital bonus tracks. There have been four pressings (so far), each with slightly different colors. The first re-press was of 750 copies on black vinyl and 250 copies on "clear w/ oxblood, cyan, & white splatter vinyl". The second press was of another 750 on black vinyl (identical to the first re-press) and 250 on "oxblood inside ultra clear w/ cyan, black, & white splatter vinyl". Yes, really. Re-press number three featured 250 copies on "oxblood inside cyan inside ultra clear" color-in-color-in-color-oh-god-make-it-stop vinyl. The fourth re-press was on "oxblood & cyan twist" vinyl. I saw a picture of one on clear glow-in-the-dark vinyl, but I have not seen this one officially for sale. Of the re-presses, the first two colors have gotten a bit expensive, but the others are still pretty common.

Original Black	Clear w/ Oxblood, Cyan, & White Splatter	Black Re-press
Oxblood Inside Ultra Clear w/ Cyan, Black & White Splatter	Oxblood Inside Cyan Inside Ultra Clear	Cyan & Oxblood Twist

This page was last updated on February 17, 2020.