For all the cruel arrows of fate that have struck The Libertines in their short career, the most shuddering hits have always been struck by themselves.

For fans and band members alike, this is perhaps the most masochistic love affair in modern music history, and it's this that gives the band their almost unbearable pathos. To call it a soap opera would be to completely understate the tumultuous ride it's been.

Listening to 'Can't Stand Me Now', it nearly hurts too much to get through this baring of souls. 'Have we enough to keep it together / Or do we just keep on pretending / And hope our luck is never ending?.' sing the doomed duo. What does get us through is that this is another 24 carat gold Libertines song, complete with call-and-response vocals and the usual headrush guitar pummelling. Hopefully this isn't the final 'adieu' in song form that many people believe it will be.

You're too good for that.