Erasure join the latest in a line of bands celebrating anniversaries on the 12th October with the release of ‘The Phantom Bride’ EP, a precursor to the release of the new remastered edition of their 1988 album ‘The Innocents’.

As releases go this little bundle has a decidedly old school feel to it, almost like a little album sampler it has the title track (which was never originally a single, but always a fan favourite) alongside some of their better known tracks like ‘Chains Of Love’ , ‘A Little Respect’ and ‘Heart Of Stone’. The tracks are brought to you in remixed form with FrankMusik’s brand new dub cut of ‘The Phantom Bride’ being the standout, chopped and diced the mix has a sound that bounces back and forth between your speakers and feels like its shifting tempo to the point where it almost disorientates (in a good way). Elsewhere Almighty’s Essential Mix of ‘Chains Of Love’ is more or less a straight recut of the original with slightly expanded hi-nrg credentials, again no bad thing and a suitable reintroduction to Erasure’s back catalogue for those who have been away for awhile. The remixes of ‘A Little Respect’ and ‘Heart Of Stone’ don’t veer to far from the original versions and essentially round off a solid EP, for those old enough to remember it was EP’s that were always the band’s stock in trade (Crackers International, Abba-esque) so if anything this is a continuation of that trend.

All in all, these tracks with their affected high camp glamour have stood the test of time quite well and along with the forthcoming album re release should settle as a guilty pleasure to be enjoyed. Recommended.