With more scheduled visitations from the ghosts of rock-and-pop past, the question this spring is not what to mark on your calendar, but what year’s calendar to mark. 1979? 1981? 1988? 1994? Photo retouching, hair dye, and voice processing are the secrets to Duran Duran’s eternal youth. And while these MTV pioneers have little hope of returning to the network with “Astronaut,” the first album in 21 years by the original lineup, it is excuse enough for them to tour and treat us all to bubblegum hits such as “Rio,” Hungry Like a Wolf,” and “Girls on Film.” Duran Duran comes to Madison Square Garden (April 13).

Erasure carried the synth-pop torch – improbably – through the late 1980s with a string of irresistible hits: “Chains of Love,” “A Little Respect,” “Chorus,” “Take a Chance on Me.” “Nightbird,” the groups 12th studio album, has little of the joie de vivre of these earlier songs, but it’s a fair bet the old stuff will be a part of the mix when Erasure settles in as Irving Plaza’s house band in April (and they’re playing 10 shows).

The most surprising career resurrection yet is that of dadaist postpunk political radicals Gang of Four. The timing is obviously right: fellow travelers Mission of Burma is still riding high from its 2002 reunion, and neo-post-punkers like Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads (produced by Gang guitarist Andy Gill) are the current darlings of the underground. Gang of Four is too principled – or too hemmed in by its old principles – to just cash in with a curtain call. They’re preparing the release of a new double-disc set, and will play Irving Plaza in May.

It’s toying with fact to call Nine Inch Nails’ return a reunion, but Trent Reznor takes so long between albums that it feels like one. A live album and an excellent 10th anniversary edition of “Downward Spiral” have helped to tide fans over since 1999’s “the Fragile.” They won’t have to wait much longer now. The new album, “With Teeth,” will be out in May, and NIN will play two (already sold out) shows at Hammerstein that same month. For the impatient, the entire album can be heard at an April 2 listening party at Avalon. The first single, “The Hand That Feeds,” is already on the radio; it sounds strangely toothless, but Reznor has earned the benefit of the doubt.

Also look for new spring releases from Hot Hot Heat, Fischerspooner, Spoon, British Sea Power, Stephen Malkmus, The Gorillaz, an EP from Devendra Banhart (including a cover of R. Kelly’s “Step in the Name of Love”), and the debut LP from Nordic electro-pop princess Annie.