There very well could have been a full-fledged R.E.M. reunion in Portland, Ore., on Saturday night as all four members of the defunct college-rock superstars performed after Peter Buck’s wedding. But, by all appearances, they managed to avoid such headlines, just barely, by not actually sharing the stage together.

Andreas Thein — who co-founded Propaganda and co-wrote and performed on the German synthpop group’s debut single, 1984’s “Dr. Mabuse,” before being asked to leave the band — lost his battle with cancer and died this past Thursday, according to ZTT Records.

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 Talking Heads, Lou Reed, New Order, OMD, The Stranglers, Elvis Costello, Pet Shop Boys, Vince Clarke, The Church, David Bowie, New York’s WLIR and more.

No official reason was given when Lou Reed canceled his performances at Coachella and three other California concerts this spring, but now we know why: Reed recently underwent a liver transplant that was necessary to save his life, his wife Laurie Anderson tells The Times of London.

With two weeks left to go, the producers of a documentary called “Dare To Be Different” — which aims to tell the story of hugely influential New York alternative station WLIR 92.7 FM — are more than $12,000 short of their fundraising goal, and are still hoping to lure fans with a variety of donor perks.

For this week’s “120 Minutes” Rewind, we revisit the very early days of the program, for an Alan Hunter-hosted “120 X-Ray” segment on New Order that ran during the show’s first year on the air. The clip features Bernard Sumner talking about how the band brought on Gillian Gilbert.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark wrapped up a U.K. tour this month in support of their second post-reunion album, English Electric, and this week stopped by “Later… with Jools Holland” for a pair of broadcast performances, including the record’s new single, “Dresden,” and the band’s classic hit “Enola Gay.”

The Stranglers have postponed tonight’s tour-opening concert in Detroit after visa trouble delayed the U.K. punk legends’ entry into the United States, but the band says it hopes to make up the date on a proposed second leg of its North American tour this September. No make-up date has yet been announced.

Elvis Costello has traded The Imposters for The Roots, teaming up with the venerable hip-hop act and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” house band to record a brand- new full-length album called Wise Up Ghost that will be released by Blue Note Records this September.

Britain’s BBC Two last weekend aired a new, 90-minute documentary by Francis Whatley called “David Bowie: Five Years” that, as its title suggests, examines five key years in the Thin White Duke’s career (the years in question all fall between 1971 to 1983. Watch the whole thing thanks to Videodrome Discothèque.

The Pet Shop Boys today teased fans with a second cut off the duo’s forthcoming album Electric — or at least 1 minute and 11 seconds of a new song. Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant this morning released an excerpt of the song “Fluorescent,” which follows last month’s debut of lead single “Axis.”

Finland indie-pop outfit The Saturnettes — aka singer-songwriter Jann Wilde — this week released the lead single from the group’s forthcoming second album, an infectious number called “Bob From The Cure,” that, yes, is about the song’s protagonist bearing a certain resemblance to one Robert Smith.

This week’s Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour on Strangeways Radio featured music by Midnight Oil, The Clash, Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, Revolting Cocks, Camper Van Beethoven, Orange Juice’s Edwyn Collins, Electronic and more. Relay of the show airs at 2 p.m. EDT Friday.