While initially announced as U.K.-only, Rhino Records has decided to release a limited number of The Smiths’ ‘Complete’ box sets in the U.S. exclusively through Rhino.com. Even better: They’ve given us a copy of the deluxe CD-and-vinyl edition to give away to one very lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.

The U.K. arm of Rhino Records this fall will release ‘The Smiths — Complete,’ a ‘super deluxe collectors’ box set’ that will feature remastered versions of the band’s eight albums on both CD and 180-gram audiophile vinyl, plus all 25 of the group’s singles on individual 7-inches.

Twenty-five years ago today, The Smiths released their third — and, arguably, best — album, ‘The Queen is Dead,’ a note-perfect marriage of Johnny Marr’s peerless pop songcraft and Morrissey’s pointed political commentary, lovesick laments and wicked humor.

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.

Janice Whaley is releasing the fruits of her ambitious The Smiths Project — vocal-only covers of all 71 songs The Smiths ever recorded — as a lavish 6CD box set. Fans can pre-order the collection through March 1.

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: A snapshot of Billy Bragg and Morrissey — clad in knee-bearing shorts and some sort of floral or Hawaiian shirt, with his tongue jutting out — at Canada’s Wonderland amusement park in Toronto while on tour with The Smiths in 1985.

Fans of The Smiths are reveling in an unexpected Christmas gift this week with the appearance of a bootleg LP featuring 16 unreleased studio outtakes, including the scrapped original recording of ‘Sheila Take a Bow,’ a reggae-like take on ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ and two previously unheard instrumentals.

In a rare show of public unity, Morrissey today threw his support behind Johnny Marr after the guitarist ‘forbid’ conservative U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron from liking The Smiths — although in typical fashion, Moz used the occasion to pen a 1,200-word screed against animal cruelty that also takes shots at Prince William and ‘his fiasco (fiancée) Kate Middleton,’ Bryan Ferry and David Beckham.

Record producer and engineer Stephen Street — who worked on three albums by The Smiths before producing and co-writing Morrissey’s solo debut ‘Viva Hate’ — will be the guest on this week’s episode of the ‘Sound Opinions’ radio program, billed as ‘the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show.’

The Smiths’ classic second album, ‘Meat is Murder,’ was released Feb. 14, 1985 — exactly 25 years ago today. To mark the occasion, we’ve assembled live video of nearly every track on the album (“Well I Wonder” being the missing link).

The editor of Smiths Indeed — the classic fanzine published from 1986 to 1989 and sold at The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ shows in the UK — is reprinting the full set of 12 issues in a limited-edition run for the second time.

Although most of Morrissey’s Smiths-related rancor is reserved for litigious drummer Mike Joyce, the singer today lashed out at bassist Andy Rourke for claiming once […]