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’Collaborations don’t work’ sing Alex Kapranos and Russell Mael on, er, Collaborations Don’t Work, thereby creating a vortex of irony so powerful that all rock music was sucked into it and destroyed.

That said, they have of course proved themselves wrong as FFS – the name referring to the initials of the two bands involved, Franz Ferdinand and Sparks – is a brilliant record, combining as it does the herky-jerky, febrile near-hysterical wit of Sparks with that of Franz Ferdinand.

Never have pants been smartier as songs such as Dictator’s Son, Johnny Delusional and the excellent, self-explanatory Piss Off see two excellent acts goad each other on to new heights of offence, absurdity and wit. Musically, it sounds like a disco Monochrome Set or a really angry Talking Heads; lyrically it’s spot on throughout.

Perhaps others can follow in FFS’ path – I could only think of Laurence Olivier joining Led Zeppelin to form LOLZ – so maybe not. Nevertheless this is a funny and great album./o:p

David Quantick is an English novelist, comedy writer and critic, who has worked as a journalist and screenwriter. A former staff writer for the music magazine NME, his writing credits have included On the Hour, Blue Jam, TV Burp and Veep; for the latter of these he won an Emmy in 2015.