text: After Balls, the band resurfaced in 2002 with the release of an album described of what they called their "genre-defining opus" – Lil' Beethoven, featuring quasi-classical arrangements of strings and choirs. Lil' Beethoven led to renewed interest in the band. Record Collector magazine named the album as one of its "Best New Albums of 2002", describing it as "...possibly the most exciting and interesting release ever from such a long-established act" and later in 2003 saying "...it really does feel like one of the best albums ever recorded." A UK and European tour had the band playing the entire album each night in the first half of the show, with fan favourites making up the second. The line-up now included former Faith No More guitarist Dean Menta in addition to Tammy Glover on drums. Long-time fan Morrissey invited Sparks to perform at the 2004 Meltdown Festival, of which he was curator. They performed their breakthrough Kimono My House album, followed by Lil Beethoven, both in their entirety. Also in this period, the duo appeared in the music video for the Darkness' Justin Hawkins's cover of "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", in which Ron and Russell play the referee and MC at a darts match between Hawkins and darts champion Phil Taylor. This version of "This Town" reached No.6 in the UK charts. Sparks would later release Lil' Beethovens closing track "Suburban Homeboy" as a single.
  February 2006 saw the release of Hello Young Lovers, their twentieth studio album. The album is regarded as carrying on where Lil' Beethoven left off, being described as "...cynical, intelligent and very, very funny", it has met with considerable acclaim. Sparks led off the album with the striking tune that the BBC deemed too provocative in its title to play, "Dick Around". The song is a multi-section, multi-mood, highly layered track that many felt should have been a UK smash hit had the BBC not misinterpreted the title of the song as being other than it was.
  The brothers were dismissive of the latest trends in popular music at this time, seeing most contemporary bands as lacking musical ambition and experimental drive. Indeed, the predictable trends in much of modern rock served as inspiration for Hello Young Lovers. However, they have expressed admiration for Eminem and Morrissey.