Tonight’s Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour on Strangeways Radio celebrated the best of 1988, featuring music from They Might Be Giants, Talking Heads, Marc Almond, Pixies, The Godfathers, R.E.M., Erasure, The Waterboys, Sonic Youth, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Jane’s Addiction and more.
Morrissey may have bemoaned he had no U.S. publisher for his just-released autobiography — cleverly titled “Autobiography” — but that’s no longer the case. The singer announced today that G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of his U.K. publisher Penguin, will put the best-seller out in the U.S. on Dec. 3.
The pleading must have worked: With Simple Minds having just wrapped up their first North American tour in 11 years — a short run of just seven dates this past month — frontman Jim Kerr says “there are already discussions taking place to hopefully bring Simple Minds back for more shows next summer.”
Erasure this week released the first single off its upcoming Christmas album Snow Globe, a synthpop take on the medieval Latin carol “Gaudete,” which was a folk hit in 1973 for Steeleye Span. The duo also debuted a new stop-motion animation video created by Martin Meunier and Tonya Hurley.
Two months after dropping a surprise cover of Arcade Fire’s “Ready to Start” on fans, Tears For Fears is back this week with another unlikely makeover: a new cover of Hot Chip’s 2006 electro-pop favorite “And I Was a Boy From School” (which was re-titled “Boy From School” when it was issued as a single).
Today we present the results of Part 9 of our year-long Best of the ’80s feature, a year-by-year poll of Slicing Up Eyeballs’ readers to determine the best albums of each year of the 1980s — and then, at the end of 2013, we’ll run a huge best-of-the-decade poll to crown the overall rulers of the ’80s.
The Jesus and Mary Chain has revealed the 14-song tracklist that will comprise the 11th and final LP in its forthcoming The Complete Vinyl Collection box set, a collection of B-sides and rarities — including material from the Barbed Wire Kisses album and Power of Negative Thinking box set — that were voted on by fans.
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 