This week’s new releases include ‘Almost Alice,’ the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ soundtrack with a rare solo track from The Cure’s Robert Smith, plus a new Bomb the Bass album and a new 2CD best-of from The Stranglers.

The next two titles in Duran Duran’s series of expanded reissues — 1986’s ‘Notorious’ and 1988’s ‘Big Thing’ — are due out June 7 internationally, according to a release schedule from the Dutch arm of EMI Music.

Larry Cassidy, co-founder and frontman of Factory Records postpunk outfit Section 25, has died, British music journalist John Robb reports today on his blog. The circumstances surrounding Cassidy’s death are not yet known.

U2 today informed fans that it has begun shipping copies of ‘Artificial Horizon,’ the free remix album being sent to paying members of the band’s website.

Lloyd Cole this week released a new ‘souvenir’ CD recorded last month with his twangy Small Ensemble that features stripped-down, acoustic takes on Commotions favorites and solo tunes — plus two new songs likely earmarked for the next album, which he’s set to begin recording Monday.

The Sundance Channel next week will re-air the R.E.M. concert documentary ‘This Is Not a Show: Live at the Olympia in Dublin,’ which is included in the 2CD/1DVD editions of the band’s new live album, ‘Live at the Olympia,’ and premiered on the cable network in December.

Ex-Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett’s political career hasn’t been going so great lately, and things went from bad to worse today when Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd demoted the former rocker over a “bungled home-insulation scheme,” according to Reuters.

This latest installment of Vintage Video again comes from our old stash of VHS tapes: It’s the entire Dec. 23, 1990, episode of MTV’s ‘120 Minutes,’ hosted by Robert Smith, who offers a retrospective of The Cure’s videos to promote the release of the band’s post-‘Disintegration’ remix disc ‘Mixed Up.’

The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan premiered the video of his all-star cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ swampy 1956 classic ‘I Put a Spell on You’ — proceeds from which will benefit Haiti — at the Shockwaves NME Awards in London on Wednesday night.

To mark the release of ‘Ceremony: A New Order Tribute,’ the fine folks at the 24 Hour Service Station record label have provided Slicing Up Eyeballs with a copy of this excellent 2CD compilation to give away to one lucky reader.

So much for these month-at-a-time incremental delays: The endlessly pushed-back reissues of My Bloody Valentine’s two albums — 1988’s ‘Isn’t Anything’ and 1991’s ‘Loveless’ — now have been bumped until Aug. 23

Out March 23, the soundtrack to ‘Hot Tube Time Machine’ features such ’80s film staples as Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘Bring On the Dancing Horses’ and New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle,’ plus tracks by The Replacements (‘I Will Dare’), INXS (‘What You Need’) and The English Beat (‘Save it For Later’).

John Lydon with Public Image Ltd.

John Lydon will take the reformed Public Image Ltd. on its first North American tour in 18 years this spring, today announcing a 16-date club tour to follow the band’s performance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.