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.

Morrissey debuted three new songs — ‘Action Is My Middle Name,’ ‘The Kid’s A Looker’ and ‘People Are The Same Everywhere’ — in a live session recorded last week and broadcast tonight on Janice Long’s late-night show on BBC Radio 2. Hear all three here.

Fans will get a chance to hear three new Morrissey songs — ‘Action is My Middle Name,’ ‘The Kid’s a Looker’ and ‘People are the Same Everywhere’ — next week on the BBC.

Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is following up his performance on Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-nominated score for ‘Inception’ with his own debut as a film composer, having scored the new straight-to-video Antonio Banderas thriller ‘The Big Bang.’

It’s Morrissey’s birthday today — he’s 52 — and to celebrate, here’s a full, 20-song ‘Kill Uncle’-era concert filmed at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on Oct. 4, 1991, and later broadcast on Japanese TV — hence the subtitles.

As promised, Morrissey is adding dates to his previously announced summer tour — and not just the four Scandinavian concerts he touted in a recent and somewhat surly open letter to his fans, but he’s now tacked on three additional shows in his native U.K. as well.

For fans who’ll be in the Los Angeles area this weekend, this year’s installment of the Smiths/Morrissey Convention — set for Sunday at The Music Box in Hollywood — features an added attraction: an actual member of The Smiths.