Plain Recordings early next year will release a 180-gram vinyl reissue of Mighty Joe Moon, the second, and most successful, album from alt-rock/Americana favorites Grant Lee Buffalo, which emerged from the ashes late-’80s Los Angeles underground act Shiva Burlesque.

The reunion of The Boomtown Rats finally crosses the pond with news that Bob Geldof and Co. will play a pair of U.S. shows late next month in New York City and Boston as part of “The Big Session,” a three-act package that also will feature Irish groups The Stunning and Mundy.

Back in 2011, the good folks at Rhino Records requested we take a stab at curating their ‘Just Can’t Get Enough: The ’80s’ playlist on Spotify — and now that the label’s launched its own app within Spotify, we’ve been asked to freshen it up occasionally with 25 new tracks representing the classic ’80s alternative era.

Johnny Marr, legendary guitarist and co-founder of The Smiths, will follow up his U.K. tour this fall with a return to the U.S. just before Thanksgiving for a 17-date trek that will keep him on the road up through Christmas in support of his forthcoming solo album Playland.

With Kate Bush’s historic return to the concert stage now just a week away, the stage-shy singer this morning asked fans not to film or photograph her upcoming 22-date run of London performances, writing on her website, “I very much want to have contact with you as an audience.”

Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck’s commitment to making new music — and releasing it on vinyl — continues this fall when he follows up his recently released second solo album with a brand-new four-track 7-inch EP titled Opium Drivel. The 33 rpm EP will be released Oct. 21 on Buck’s usual label, Mississippi Records.

Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey took to the stage in a small club in the U.K. last week for an hour-long set that featured his first performance of his old band’s material in 27 years, a warm-up for his appearance at the Rewind South festival over this past weekend and his upcoming North American tour.

While the reunion of The Mission continues — the band currently is touring South America — frontman Wayne Hussey is branching out on his own this fall with the release of a brand-new, 14-track solo album entitled Songs of Candlelight & Razorblades that will be supported by a massive, 50-date European tour.

This week’s new releases include an expanded 2CD reissue of Wire’s fourth album, “Document and Eyewitness,” plus a new digital-only compilation of Scruffy the Cat’s Relativity Records output and a slightly belated U.S. CD release of MIdge Ure’s new album “Fragile.”

The recently resurrected Wax Trax! Records imprint next month will commemorate the 30th anniversary of Front 242’s first U.S. show by releasing a new 7-inch single featuring a pair of tracks recorded live by the EBM pioneers at concerts in Chicago in both 1984 and 2011.

Johnny Marr, the legendary co-founder, guitarist and songwriter for The Smiths, today debuted the first track off what’s being billed as his second solo album, the 11-song Playland, which is due out Oct. 6/7 via Warner Music.

Last weekend, ’80s jangle-pop favorites Let’s Active reunited on stage in Carrboro, N.C., for the first time in 24 years, performing an 11-song set at Be Loud! ’14, a benefit for the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation in memory of 15-year-old Sophie Steiner, who died of cancer last year.

With The Afghan Whigs set to embark on an extensive fall tour later this month in support of reunion album Do To The Beast, Greg Dulli and Co. today debuted a stark, dark cover of The Police’s 1981 hit single “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”