When people think of Great British Synthpop, Erasure are often cruelly overlooked by virtue of the fact that they seemed to be having too much fun and embraced their pop-sensibilities with too much gusto.

Basically, po-faced art-schoolers are held up for their future-thinking while Erasure unashamedly went straight for Smash Hits! and Top of the Pops. Of course, Heaven 17, Soft Cell, Human League and Depeche Mode all had big pop hits, but they retained a certain aloofness which made them more credible for some stupid reason.

And with Erasure announcing a new album and an autumn UK tour, it is high time we reminded ourselves just how brilliant they are.