(Polydor/Universal)

I have to confess that when I first listened to the Scissor Sisters album I didn’t particularly enjoy this song. Initially the brothers Gibb vocals and over the top disco beat only conjured visions of theatrics, bad miming and men with too much makeup. But the Bee Gees never sang about tripping on a hit of acid or their main money-maker being flaccid… Which is probably a good thing because by the end of the week I was breaking out at random intervals into terrible falsetto and dancing in a manner that would make most queens cry with pity. God only knows the damage that ‘Staying Alive’ would have caused had it had a beat with as much rockin’ disco dance floor attitude as ‘Filthy/Gorgeous.’ I might still be wearing white with one hand pointed to the sky.

Next up is the already infamous cover of Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Take Me Out.’ The tongue is definitely firmly in cheek from the word go, with an intro that’s so Elton John it’s nearly impossible not to imagine front man Jake playing a gleaming white piano wearing gigantic purple sunglasses. Then like the original dance rock number the tempo suddenly changes up a couple of gears and the song transforms into a line dance in a lounge bar. Needless to say, you’ll either love its catchy camp appeal or find it a nauseating piece of kitsch novelty depending on how much you like the taste of tongue.

Rounding off the b-sides is the Paper Faces ‘Filthy/Gorgeous’ remix that sacrifices much of the original’s flavour to transform it into a track perfect for the 2am club dance floor and an utterly demented piece of unlistenable nonsense featuring a throwaway beat, a foul-mouthed Englishman and a voice cackling “Ketamine!” And that’s what the Scissor Sisters and in particular these tracks are all about really; beats so cheesy they transcend the term and a bunch of trashbags doing what they do best – talking trash. So it comes as a given that your appreciation will depend on your taste for the fun that can be found in the gutter outside a sleazy disco.