The Great Debate: Is Spoon The Best Band In The World?

I look at a list of my favorite bands, which include, but are not limited to, The Wrens, Deerhoof, The Mountain Goats, and Radiohead. Today I realized that Spoon is better than all of them. Spoon has displayed the consistency of Radiohead, the songwriting of The Wrens, the personality of The Mountain Goats, and if they're not quite as technically dazzling as Deerhoof, they're pretty damn close. Why did I realize this all today? Because today I listened to "The Ghost Of You Lingers", the first single from their forthcoming album, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga", for the sixth time. And it blew me away.
I am sorry to say that I have not heard much of "A Series of Sneaks" or any of "Telephono", so I can't pretend to be a complete expert on Spoon. However, I usually abide by what I like to call the "Lil' Wayne Rule" -- that is, an artist's early work should not be a total reflection on their present output. Why is it called the "Lil' Wayne Rule"? Because Lil' Wayne sucked in the late '90s, and now he's an all star rapper. But I'll elaborate on that another time.
"Girls Can Tell" is a great little album; I only call it "little" because it seems to exist on such a small scale when compared to 2002's "Kill The Moonlight". THAT album is, and will probably always be, Spoon's essential work, a nearly perfect album that expands on every idea put forth in "Girls Can Tell". My friend Scott has said that the first six songs on that album are absolutely perfect, and I agree with him. From the instantly memorable synth riff of "Small Stakes" to the soaring emotion of "Paper Tiger," the first half of "Kill The Moonlight" simply cannot be fucked with.
In my opinion, 2005's "Gimme Fiction" was the most underrated album of that year, even more so than Broken Social Scene's self-titled album. "Gimme Fiction" is almost as good as "Kill The Moonlight," and in some ways better. The album certainly congeals better than "Kill The Moonlight", touching on the ideas of imagination vs. reality, the surreal vs. the plain. Also, the band just seems to be having a hell of a time on the album.
I haven't heard anything of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" except "The Ghost Of You Lingers", and even though it took me six times to get into, it now reigns as one of my favorite Spoon songs. The sheer simplicity of the piano, the ghostly nature of Britt Daniel's voice, the way the line "It felt good to me" cuts through the sea of static that the band has created... so utterly beautiful. Can't wait to hear the rest of the album; if it's anything near "Ghost", my expectations are huge.
So yeah, you know your favorite band? Spoon is better. It'll take "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" to be the worst album of the year to convince me otherwise.