A host of musicians — including R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Mike Mills, as well as Alejandro Escovedo, members of Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, Drive-By Truckers and The Shins, and more — will perform two concerts in Portland, Ore., next month to raise money for Scott McCaughey, who suffered a stroke last month.

R.E.M. has followed up the recent release of its deluxe multi-disc expanded reissue of 1992’s Automatic For the People with a new 24-minute mini-documentary about the making of that record, a film called “Automatic Unearthed” that is streaming on YouTube. Watch the full program right here.

R.E.M. famously only performed a single concert in support of  Automatic For the People, a benefit for Greenpeace at the 40 Watt Club in the band’s hometown of Athens, Ga., on Nov. 19, 1992. Audio from that show, previously issued as B-sides, is included as a bonus on the band’s recent Automatic reissue.

Scott McCaughey, leader of the Young Fresh Fellows and the Minus 5, and who spent 17 years as a touring guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for R.E.M., suffered a stroke while on a tour of the West Coast with Alejandro Escovedo, his wife announced today. He is in stable condition, but a long recovery is expected.

Michael Stipe returned to the concert stage Sunday night, performing a short set — he covered songs by Nat King Cole, Ringo Starr and the Velvet Underground — during the Pathway to Paris climate event at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on Sunday. Watch the full performance right here.

Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. This week’s releases include a new box set of early Husker Du material, an expanded R.E.M. reissue and a Tears For Fears best-of.

Michael Stipe will make one of his periodic returns to the concert stage this weekend when the former R.E.M. frontman performs alongside Patti Smith, Joan Baez, Talib Kweli and Flea at the Pathway to Paris climate event at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on Sunday. Full details here.

R.E.M. has offered up the latest taste of its upcoming multi-disc 25th anniversary reissue of Automatic For the People in the form of a demo of the song “Photograph,” an AFTP-era track that, in its completed version, would feature a duet between Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant and appear on 1993’s Born to Choose.

A second previously unreleased demo of an unheard song from R.E.M.’s sessions for its 1992 classic Automatic for the People has been released ahead of that album’s reissue next month, a song called “Devil Rides Backwards” that’s being billed as the album’s “great lost track.”

We brought you news of R.E.M.’s expanded reissue of Automatic For the People yesterday, but now the band officially has announced the project, and given fans the first taste of one of its 20 unreleased demos in the form of “Mike’s Pop Song,” a sweet, “fully realized” track sung by Mike Mills. Stream it right here.

R.E.M.’s multiplatinum Automatic For the People will mark its 25th anniversary with a 4-disc reissue this November, with the original 1992 album joined by a live disc featuring the band’s famed Greenpeace benefit concert at the 40 Watt Club, another disc of 20 unreleased demos and a Blu-ray.

More shameless self-promotion: Slicing Up Eyeballs founder/editor Matt Sebastian returns to the Rockin’ the Suburbs podcast to discuss this site’s artist polls, beginning with today’s show on the best of The Cure, followed by discussions of our Smiths and R.E.M. polls later this week.

Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. This week’s releases include titles from R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, The Fall, Alex Chilton, Devo, Sex Pistols and more.