Any pop fan familiar with Erasure’s 1992 compilation Pop! – and if you’re not, why not? It’s the most purely distilled collection of chart-conquering synth-pop ever produced – will also be familiar with Always, The Very Best of Erasure. Indeed, the tracklisting of the first disc of this 3CD set is virtually identical, albeit with a handful of older tracks replaced by later releases, including their camper-than-Abba cover of Take a Chance On Me and 2014’s Elevation. The other two discs contain a hit-and-miss collection of remixes, spanning the old (Blue Savannah’s original 12” Der Deutsche Mix II reimagines Andy Bell as the frontman of Fool’s Gold-era Stone Roses) to the new (Grumbling Fur’s Eternal Eraser mix of The Circus adds pouring rain and a lolloping beat to one of the group’s most overtly political songs). The sparkling originals outshine them, of course, but that’s more a testament to the longevity of this often critically overlooked duo.
