Pet Shop Boys have recorded a cover of the Bee Gees’ 1968 hit single ‘I Started A Joke’ in tribute to the late Robin Gibb — the band co-founder who died in May at age 62 — and will include it as a B-side to the duo’s upcoming single “Winner,” the first to be released off the forthcoming album ‘Elysium.’

This week’s new releases include the U.S. reissue of Sugar’s catalog, a live CD/DVD from Propaganda’s Claudia Brücken, a live CD from Happy Mondays, an audiophile vinyl pressing of Yazoo’s ‘Upstairs at Eric’s,’ the U.S. release of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Secret World Live,’ and reissues of Icehouse’s ‘Primitive Man’ and ‘Man of Colours.’

The playlist from tonight’s edition of “Dark Wave” — the Sunday night “darker side of alternative” show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — featured Southern Death Cult, Cocteau Twins, Love and Rockets, Shriekback, The Mission, The Sugarcubes, The Human League, Bauhaus, Japan and much more.

Depeche Mode isn’t expected to return to the stage until 2013, but about 150 people got an unusually up-close-and-personal glimpse of frontman Dave Gahan in action Saturday night when he performed a special one-off show with Soulsavers, showcasing seven tracks off ‘The Light the Dead See.’

Welcome to the Week in Rock, where we round up all of the headlines posted on this site over the past week. This edition includes items about The Fixx, Bob Mould, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Black Francis, Kristin Hersh, Sonic Youth, The Jam and more — plus a special mixtape.

With Merge Records set to release U.S. editions of Sugar’s catalog reissues next week, the label is teasing the discs with this video of Bob Mould and his band — drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy — tearing through ‘Copper Blue’ standout “Hoover Dam” at San Francisco’s NoisePop festival back in February.

The Cure’s Robert Smith reveals the band’s plans to tour South America: ‘We’re supposed to go there just after Easter next year. We’re going to play in every… not every country in South America. We’re not playing in Ecuador because people don’t play in Ecuador. But we’re playing Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela.’

Depeche Mode’s management this week shot down a supposed 2013 European tour itinerary that’s been making the rounds online, re-affirming that the band will tour next year, but that no dates have been confirmed. That comes as rumors continue to swirl that Dave Gahan will perform a “secret” show with Soulsavers.

Gary Numan next month will release ‘Big Noise Transmission,’ a live document of a concert recorded at the HMV Ritz in Manchester, England, last December that will arrive in three formats: a 2CD set, a 20-song PAL format DVD and a limited collectors’ edition featuring the 2CD set and a hardbound photo book.

This week’s episode spotlighted the recent mix we made for Version Galore, with covers from artists such as David Bowie, Primal Scream, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Morrissey, Erasure, The Replacements, Morrissey, The House of Love, Echo & The Bunnymen and more.

Last Friday night, a group of Boston-bred artists gathered at the Pleasant Street Theater to throw a party in honor of the venue as it closes after 30 years. Among those performing: Pixies frontman Black Francis and Throwing Muses leader Kristin Hersh, who together performed the Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation.”

The Fixx returns today with their first new album in a decade, the 11-track Beautiful Friction, and they’re promoting the effort with a new music video for first single “Anyone Else.” The arty clip references various forms of conflict, from political debates to the Westboro Baptist Church and the Occupy movement.

The future of Sonic Youth may remain in doubt following last year’s Kim Gordon-Thurston Moore split, but the band is working on a host of archival projects, according to Lee Ranaldo, including a live album recorded in 1985, a previously unseen 1986 concert film and a possible deluxe-edition reissue of 1987’s ‘Sister.’