This week’s new releases include the expanded 25th anniversary reissue of R.E.M.’s ‘Lifes Rich Pageant,’ plus Dead Can Dance’s 4LP ‘Box Set II’ and ‘Weird Pop,’ the brand-new double-vinyl best-of from Bauhaus spin-off Tones on Tail.

Next week sees the release of the latest installment in R.E.M.’s ongoing reissue series: an expanded 2CD, 25th anniversary re-release of ‘Lifes Rich Pageant.’ Thanks to an exclusive pre-release stream at Spin.com, you can go ahead and check out the fully remastered 1986 album and the 19-track bonus disc.

R.E.M. continue their reissue series this July with a 25th anniversary edition of ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ that will feature a newly remastered version of the 1986 album and a bonus CD featuring 19 unreleased demos that include a never-before-released song.

There’s less than a week left before that holiest of holy days for vinyl junkies: Record Store Day 2011, which, this year, will see special releases in the U.S. and the U.K. by R.E.M., The Smiths, New Order and Joy Division, Kate Bush, Sonic Youth and many more.

To help celebrate the release of R.E.M.’s latest album ‘Collapse Into Now,’ the folks at EMI Music — who now control the band’s classic college-rock output on I.R.S. Records — have provided us with a 5CD/2LP prize pack to award to a lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.

Monday night in New York City, Patti Smith sang and read poetry at Milk Studios for the opening of ‘Illumination: Who Are Poets,’ an exhibit by rock ‘n’ roll photographer Steven Sebring — and was joined onstage by Michael Stipe for an impromptu performance of R.E.M. smash ‘Everybody Hurts.’

New York City’s Baruch College played host Saturday night to a star-studded tribute to Big Star’s beloved ‘Third/Sister Lovers’ album, performed by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills, plus Matthew Sweet, members of Teenage Fanclub and Yo La Tengo, and surviving Big Star member Jody Stephens.