PRE-ORDER: The Slackers "Better Late Than" LP

Better Late Than Never, the studio album that in many ways started it all for NYC ska / reggae legends The Slackers, is celebrating its milestone 30th Anniversary in 2026. To celebrate, the band is joining with Pirates Press Records to bring this classic album back in print...to stay this time! Better Late Than Never, indeed! Of course, to say this record "started it all" is a bit of a simplification. The Slackers began playing live in 1991, and by 1996 had self-released a string of cassette tapes and built a solid local audience in the thriving 90s NYC ska scene. However, Better Late Than Never was undeniably a turning point for the band. Five years in, the band had written their strongest material to date, with the influence of traditional Jamaican ska more prominent than in their earlier work. Combined with the band's other diverse influences, it was truly the birth of The Slackers' signature sound, as fans worldwide recognize it today. Tracks like the sleazy, smoky blues croon of "Sarah" and the driving, masterful "Sooner or Later" remain fan-favorites and fixtures of live sets to this very day. The tracks were laid for the band's trajectory during these fruitful sessions at Coyote Studios with production by the band's longtime collaborator Victor Rice, decades before he won his Latin Grammys. And, as if to bless the proceedings, the incomparable Doreen Shaffer, founding member of genre originators The Skatalites, lends guest vocals to the riddim-driven lovers' rock of "Our Day Will Come." Originally released on CD by New York institution Moon Ska Records, this record has been in and out of print far too many times over the years. On the auspicious occasion of its 30th anniversary, The Slackers and Pirates Press Records have assembled a truly definitive version of Better Late Than Never for posterity, restoring the original album artwork and all sixteen songs that have appeared on any tracklisting of the album, across a gorgeous colored vinyl double LP!