This week’s roundup of Slicing Up Eyeballs headlines includes items about Simple Minds, Pixies, Soundgarden, Blondie, Devo, Morrissey, R.E.M., Rain Parade, Peter Murphy, Brian Eno, PiL, Robert Smith, The Dream Syndicate, Big Country, Erasure and more.
Seeing as today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the Pixies’ ‘Come On Pilgrim,’ we’ll use this week’s “120 Minutes” Rewind to spotlight the band with this 10-part, 25-minute playlist that highlights the interview segments and performances from the 1991 episode the band co-hosted with Dave Kendall.
Reunited grunge-era titans Soundgarden this week debuted the appropriately titled “Been Away Too Long,” the first song off forthcoming record ‘King Animal,’ the group’s first new studio album in 16 years. The rocker is the second new song to emerge since the band reunited in 2010.
Blondie and Devo last night wrapped up their joint U.S. tour with a concert at the Chicago Theatre, and Debbie Harry marked the occasion today by tweeting this photo of the two bands backstage together. Blondie still has a few scattered U.S. dates planned in the coming weeks.
Our latest link round-up includes a story about Morrissey coming to the aide of an elderly woman who collapsed at a New York book store, plus newly discovered footage of The Untouchables from 1984, a look back at Depeche Mode’s ‘A Broken Frame’ at 30, and some pages from the old Adam Ant comics.
Simple Minds are putting the finishing touches on a live album culled from this year’s “5×5 Live” tour of Europe, which found the band each night performing five songs off of each of its first five albums — ‘Life In A Day,’ ‘Real To Real Cacophony,’ ‘Empires and Dance,’ ‘Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Calling’ and ‘New Gold Dream.’
In honor of this week’s release of the expanded 25th anniversary reissue of ‘Document,’ R.E.M. has posted the album’s original electronic press kit, a 6-minute, black-and-white video dubbed “A Conversation with Michael Stipe” that would have been sent to music journalists in 1987 to promote the then-forthcoming record.
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 