The auction of 250 autographed copies of The Replacements’ much-buzzed Songs for Slim benefit/reunion EP — billed as the first new release from the ‘Mats since 1990’s All Shook Down — kicks off Tuesday morning and will run for 10 days, after which the EP’s five tracks will be commercially released as digital downloads.
Welcome to the Week in Rock, where we round up all of the headlines posted on this site over the past week. This week featured posts about David Bowie, The Replacements, Thurston Moore, The Specials, Living Colour, Morrissey, Echo & The Bunnymen and more — plus a new contest to win classic New Order vinyl.
In addition to our contest to win five classic New Order albums on vinyl, we can now bring you — via RollingStone.com —a full stream of the band’s forthcoming ‘Lost Sirens’ mini-album, a collection of eight previously unreleased tracks and mixes from the sessions for 2005′s ‘Waiting For the Sirens’ Call.’
To celebrate next week’s release of New Order’s ‘Lost Sirens’ mini-album — which will be issued digitally here in the U.S. beginning Tuesday — Rhino Records has gone analog, hooking us up with a set of all five of the band’s classic ’80s albums on vinyl to give away to one lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.
The Specials finally are making good on a promise to tour the U.S., today announcing they’ll play two dates at the South By Southwest festival in March as part of the first leg of a larger North American visit — but the shows will not feature co-vocalist Neville Staple, who is leaving the band due to “ill health.”
As we reported last week, genre-straddling hard-rock act Living Colour will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album ‘Vivid’ with a new reissue and a tour centered around the 1988 album — and the band has now begun rolling out North American dates on that planned spring trek.
Once and future(?) Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore will release the self-titled debut album from his new band Chelsea Light Moving on March 5, Matador Records announced this morning, and will follow that release with a 20-date U.S. tour that has a conspicuous South By Southwest-sized gap in the schedule.
Q&A: Daniel Ash on Love and Rockets’ reunion, his new band — and figuring out how to play “So Alive” 
Q&A: Chris Frantz talks Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and new book ‘Remain in Love’ 
Q&A: Steve Wynn on The Dream Syndicate’s first new album in nearly 30 years 
Q&A: Bauhaus’ David J on his ‘accidental’ concept album ‘Not Long For This World’ 
Q&A: Peter Murphy on ‘Ninth,’ Bauhaus’ break-up, reuniting Dalis Car 
Q&A: Joey Santiago on Pixies’ ‘Doolittle’ tour, possible ‘Surfer Rosa’ shows, new album talk 
Q&A: Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon on new album, changing the world with music 
Q&A: Peter Hook talks ‘Unknown Pleasures’ tour, re-recording Joy Division 