ERASURE will play support on the forthcoming Robbie Williams tour. Frustratingly, our closest venue is Manchester's Etihad Stadium on June 2,but the cross-Pennines journey should be worth it.

Consistently a pop power-house, Erasure have in their time scored 35 chart singles and received the BRIT Award for Best British Group (1989). World Be Gone is Vince Clarke and Andy Bell’s 17th studio album, which mostly follows a safe, well-trodden path.

Of these, Love You To The Sky and Just A Little Love are up-beat sunny electro tracks that open and close the record. Both sit comfortably beside the duo's bona-fide hits. Yet more interesting are the contents of this sandwich.

The robotic Oh What A World and the reflective Still It’s Not Over, marking the 50th anniversary of LGBT achievement, are made of meatier stuff. There are greater depths to Erasure’s work, yet they will always be best known for the frivolous and highly disposable camp of the commercial hits.