Bob Mould will release a new album called ‘Silver Age’ that Merge Records likens to the ‘punishingly loud, melodically sparkling pop/rock vein of the Sugar catlalog’ — a fitting comparison, since Mould will tour the album in the U.S. this fall by playing that band’s ‘Copper Blue’ front-to-back.

Our latest link round-up includes a Q&A with Morrissey in which he suggests he’ll retire in 2014 at age 55, plus interviews with Bob Mould reflecting on Sugar’s ‘Copper Blue,’ John Lydon discussing Public Image Ltd. and the Sex Pistols, and former Replacements drummer Chris Mars talking art and music.

This week’s new releases include the first new albums in decades from Public Image Ltd. and the hit ’80s lineup of Ultravox, plus a new four-disc Colourbox box set and expanded reissues of Sugar’s classic 1992 debut ‘Copper Blue’ and The Charlatans’ 1997 album ‘Tellin’ Stories.’

With expanded reissues of Sugar’s catalog — 1992′s landmark ‘Copper Blue,’ the 1993 companion EP ‘Beaster’ and 1994 sophomore album ‘File Under: Easy Listening’ — coming out over the next few weeks in the U.K., Merge Records has announced it will release trimmed-down versions in the U.S. later this summer.

Demon Music Group this summer will reissue two of Bob Mould’s ’90s solo albums with a live disc, Mould will perform Sugar’s ‘Copper Blue’ at Milwaukee’s Summerfest, and he’ll headline a benefit concert in North Carolina this week to help defeat a measure that would prohibit recognition of same-sex marriages.

The complete studio output of Bob Mould’s acclaimed post-Hüsker Dü trio Sugar — 1992’s landmark ‘Copper Blue,’ the 1993 companion EP ‘Beaster’ and 1994 sophomore album ‘File Under: Easy Listening’ — will be reissued in the U.K. later this spring in expanded multi-disc CD/DVD editions.