Our round-up of the past week’s highlights on Slicing Up Eyeballs includes posts about Duran Duran, Big Country, Peter Gabriel, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Pet Shop Boys, R.E.M. and Brian Eno, Morrissey, Killing Joke and The Stone Roses — plus our free November mixtape.

Now that he’s unemployed, former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has plenty of time on his hands, which might explain his drop-in at the end of Thursday night’s ‘The Colbert Report.’ Stephen Colbert paid fitting tribute to ‘legendary rockers The R.E.M.s,’ then permanently enshrined Stipe on his ‘rock ‘n’ roll shelf of fame.’

There’s still more than a week before R.E.M.’s career-capping best-of is released, but, thanks to the folks NPR, you can now stream the full 40-song ‘Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011’ — which, for fans, means 37 songs you know and love plus those three new tracks.

This week’s round-up of headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs includes posts about R.E.M., Talking Heads, New Order, Magazine, John Peel and Elvis Costello, plus not one but three contests involving Robert Smith, Peter Gabriel and Jane’s Addiction.

R.E.M. today released not one but two music videos for its new, and likely final, single ‘We All Go Back To Where We Belong’ — one featuring actress Kirsten Dunst, the other performance artist John Giorno. Both, shot in black and white, simply show a close-up of the face of their subject set to the new single.

This week’s headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs included posts about the reunited New Order, David J, X, The Dead Milkmen, Skinny Puppy and R.E.M., plus our interview with the Pixies’ Joey Santiago, and quite possibly the biggest news of the year: the long-awaited reunion of The Stone Roses.

This past week, Bob Mould, Throwing Muses and Dead Milkmen headlined the 2011 Athens PopFest, and thanks to YouTube user MisterLettuce, we can share video of their full sets — plus what may just be the highlight, the Milkmen covering local heroes Pylon with that group’s lead singer.

This week’s new releases include Jane’s Addiction’s new studio album (‘The Great Escape Artist’), the U.S. release of The Smiths’ ‘Complete’ box set, R.E.M.’s ‘We All Go Back To Where We Belong’ digital single, The Japanese Popstars’ remix EP of the Robert Smith-assisted ‘Take Forever’ and reissues form Pop Will Eat Itself and The Proclaimers.

It’s not due for release until Tuesday, but the brand-new R.E.M. single ‘We All Go Back To Where We Belong’ — one of three new tracks on the band’s upcoming, and posthumous, best-of — hit the web Sunday night, and you can take an early listen right here.

This week’s headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs included posts about about Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, The Mission, Big Country, New Order, Robyn Hitchcock and much, much more, plus news on how to score a free Slicing Up Eyeballs sticker.

This week’s round-up of fresh links includes reports that The Stone Roses next week will announce they’re reuniting, plus an appreciation of R.E.M.’s font-making prowess, a remembrance of Depeche Mode’s ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion’ era, and a look at the declining state of college radio.

After 27 years of marriage and 30 years as bandmates, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon today issued a statement announcing they’ve separated, and while Sonic Youth will honor its South American touring commitments next month, the future of the band is uncertain.

Our round-up of last week’s Slicing Up Eyeballs headlines includes news about New Order, R.E.M., Wall of Voodoo, Pet Shop Boys, Peter Murphy, INXS, Kate Bush and more, plus a new Slicing Up Eyeballs mixtape and a contest to win the new B-52s live album.