I agree that their early material was great in that it showed an unbelievable amount of promise, especially from Brock. But I think that "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" was the summation of all that potential. The production value of the album was superior to anything they'd ever churned out, yet the integrity of the tracks themselves weren't compromised in the slightest. The content retained Brock's trademark brand of cynical misanthropic mean-heartedness, but the songs offered a maturity that the earlier albums lacked. Beyond that, the album feels like every solitary member of MM was acting with a collective goal in mind, whereas in previous albums ("This is a Long Drive" and "Everywhere and His Nasty.." and especially "The Moon and Antarctica") the vast majority of the emphasis rested on experimenting with sonic ideas.

That being said, some of the early albums are personal favorites of mine, especially when I feel like taking an emotional journey back to my high school days (haha) but I feel that "Good News" was their strongest album to date.

I couldn't have stated it any more perfectly myself. Thank you for that... :)

Thank you, sir.

I think Sad Sappy Sucker has some really underrated material. 'Dukes Up', 'Classy Plastic Lumber', 'Worms Vs. Birds', and 'From Point A to Point B' are all excellent and among my MM favorites...

Absolutely. "Worms Vs. Birds" is one of my favorites, too. Personally, of the old albums, "Build Nothing" was among my favorites, as was "Moon and Antarctica". "Moon" showed Brock's nastiness, but it also exhibited some of his tender qualities, especially in "3rd Planet". There's a defeated, resentfulness that comes through in the lyrics, but it seems to come from a very personal, wounded place. I always tend to imagine that that song is about having a miscarriage. Maybe I'm wrong.

Sad Sappy Sucker is the only Modest Mouse album I've been listening to the last few days. /: Definitely underrated. All of the ones V&F listed plus Secret Agent X9, Wagon Ride Return (I'm not sure I've found anything that relaxes me as much as this 48 second bit), Think Long, and all of the little 30 second jams (some very clever, some comedic) are great.

On the topic of Good News, you're right about the production value, but I do think the 'feel', or maybe the emotional appeal, WAS compromised. Good News is the first album I listened to and really loved [by Modest Mouse], but after searching through their discography more around 18 months ago, I fell so deeply in love with their pre-Good News work that I originally abandoned the album. After a while I've come back to it and still respect it, but I still don't hold it as high (this has to do with the music, but also the emotional factor). I get the feeling that Isaac was trying too hard (or that Epic was pushing the band too hard) to create a commercial sounding album, which I don't necessarily have a problem with (they deserve the fame and success), I just don't like it as much. I particularly don't like how purposely crazy he's gone with his voice, even if he's not emphasizing something - it's like he just does it because he knows it's a draw factor for the more mainstream listeners (granted this could be more of a mental thing on my part, but anyway). The reason this upsets me mostly is because of the genuine, gut wrenching voice he had always used up to then (which you still hear on some track of Good News, but not many) that got replaced with the crazily slurred phrases he's famous for now.

What I will say about Good News is that I think it was the last album to really be influenced by that die hard depression and beautifully sardonic nature of his. I've read about what had happened to him that ended up culminating into that album, and there was definitely some bad stuff. I'm happy that he's happier now and all (and mostly, if not wholly drug-free), I just don't think it makes for better music. :P

they peaked with Lonesome Crowded West, and every album from that point has gotten worse. but i still liked We Were Dead.

I think We Were Dead is definitely an underrated album. I actually personally find it to be a bit more of a consistant album than Good News was (Still am unsure on whether I like it better though.) Both Parting of the Sensory and Spitting Venom have got to be among my favorite Modest Mouse songs!

And yes, I love Modest Mouse. ^.^

I love Modest Mouse. It's great to see a band who can put so much emotion and power into songs. Isaac can really put meanings into his songs by just singing them. How he's able to just scream what he's feeling and the way it comes out is fantastic. I'm a huge huge fan of The Moon & Antarctica.

We Were Dead is definitely overlooked, it very much suceeds on it's own terms and might be the mosty purely enjoyable MM record.