Now that Morrissey has shifted what was to have been the opening night of his U.S. and Mexican tour to the end of the trek, it appears he may be expanding the run — fans in the Detroit area can catch Moz on Dec. 18, the day after the now-rescheduled Chicago date.

Still another week before the release of Kate Bush’s new album ’50 Words for Snow’ — a 65-minute collection featuring ‘seven brand new tracks set against a background of falling snow’ — but you can now stream the full record in advance of its release via NPR Music.

This week’s new releases include ‘Ersatz G.B.,’ the 29th studio album from The Fall, plus new best-ofs from R.E.M. (‘Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage’) and Wall of Voodoo (‘Lost Weekend’), and expanded reissue of Cabaret Voltaire’s ‘Johnny YesNo’ soundtrack and Curt Smith’s solo effort ‘Mayfield.’

The playlist from Sunday night’s edition of ‘Dark Wave’ — the weekly ‘darker side of alternative’ show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — featured KMFDM, Camouflage, Wire, The Smiths, Killing Joke, Kate Bush, The Chameleons and much more.

This week’s round-up of click-worthy links includes news about Mick Jones playing Clash songs on a U.K. benefit tour, an interview with Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr via the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, interviews with The Sisters of Mercy and The Jesus and Mary Chain, and news that The Specials’ reunion will continue.

Our round-up of the past week’s highlights on Slicing Up Eyeballs includes posts about Duran Duran, Big Country, Peter Gabriel, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Pet Shop Boys, R.E.M. and Brian Eno, Morrissey, Killing Joke and The Stone Roses — plus our free November mixtape.

The Pet Shop Boys not only are expecting to release a new studio album in 2012, they’re currently assembling a brand-new B-sides compilation — a sequel to 1995’s 2CD set ‘Alternative’ that will be called ‘Format,’ and span the years 1996 to 2009 — for release in February, the duo revealed in a new interview this week.

Now that he’s unemployed, former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has plenty of time on his hands, which might explain his drop-in at the end of Thursday night’s ‘The Colbert Report.’ Stephen Colbert paid fitting tribute to ‘legendary rockers The R.E.M.s,’ then permanently enshrined Stipe on his ‘rock ‘n’ roll shelf of fame.’

The future of Sonic Youth may still be uncertain, but fans can at least take solace in Matador Records’ announcement today that Lee Ranaldo will release a new solo album called ‘Between The Times & The Tides’ next spring — and judging by the recent live debut of the songs, it’s a fairly rock-oriented affair.

If you caught the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ last night, you may have seen Peter Gabriel perform his classic ‘Red Rain’ backed by the New Blood Orchestra. However, he also performed a full hour-long concert from the Letterman studio that was webcast, which you can see here.

The reunited Big Country today revealed the tracklist for its upcoming 2CD ‘deluxe edition’ reissue of its 1983 debut album ‘The Crossing,’ which will be released by Universal Music on Jan. 30 in the U.K. and be supplemented with seven B-sides and a second disc featuring 17 demos — 10 of which are previously unreleased.

Morrissey today postponed the opening night of his upcoming tour of the United States and Mexico — Thursday’s sold-out concert at Chicago’s Congress Theatre — because his lead guitarist can’t perform in the U.S. this week ‘due to a visa administration error.’

Tonight’s episode of Slicing Up Eyeballs on Strangeways Radio featured brand-new tracks from The Fall, R.E.M. and The Mission’s Wayne Hussey, plus reader requests for The Ocean Blue, Clan of Xymox, The Church and Ultra Vivid Scene, and a little Ramones and Adam Ant thrown in, too.