Today we celebrate Concrete Blonde frontwoman Johnette Napolitano’s 53rd birthday by forgoing some of the more obvious cuts from the late ’80s or the band’s breakthrough album ‘Bloodletting,’ and instead digging up this early 1994 performance of ‘Mexican Moon’ on the ‘Late Show with David Letterman.’

The Pet Shop Boys today revealed the tracklist for their upcoming 19-song best-of ‘Ultimate Pet Shop Boys’ — which also will be available as a special edition with a bonus DVD of vintage BBC live performances — and announced the set will close with a newly recorded single called ‘Together.’

Largely sidelined by the 2001 suicide of frontman Stuart Adamson, Scottish New Wave rockers Big Country — immortalized by their iconic hit ‘In a Big Country’ — have drafted Mike Peters of The Alarm to take over as lead singer for a series of 30th anniversary concerts beginning New Years Eve.

Fans who purchase Yazoo’s forthcoming ‘Reconnected Live’ album on iTunes will get a much-coveted bonus: the previously unreleased track ‘Get Set,’ recorded by Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke in 1983 for use as the theme to the BBC children’s TV show ‘Get Set For Summer.’

This week’s releases include new studio albums from OMD, ex-Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins and reunited no-wave act Swans; plus a new Jesus and Mary Chain best-of; and expanded reissues of the Bangles’ first two albums, ‘All Over the Place’ and ‘Different Light.’

Beginning Monday, fans of The Cure will be able to bid on a double-vinyl edition of the new ‘Disintegration’ reissue signed by Robert Smith that’s being auctioned off to help raise money for the West Memphis 3 legal defense fund.

Highlights of tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave included a rarely-heard Depeche Mode B-side (‘Breathing in Fumes’), a pair of songs from The Cure’s ‘The Top’ (‘Shake Dog Shake,’ ‘Birdmad Girl’) and Joe Strummer’s great contribution to the ‘Sid and Nancy’ soundtrack (‘Love Kills’).