Pearl Jam — Lost Dogs

Lost Dogs

Epic/Sony BMG

The Mouth (CHARTattack)

11/11/2003 1:03pm

It should come as a surprise to no one that a band who officially released their entire 2000 concert tour on CD would also unleash a double disc compilation of odds, sods, lost tracks, b sides, Christmas singles and whatever else they could save from the cutting room floor. Luckily, this new collection of Pearl Jam rarities doesn't suffer from quite the same sense of over the top, self indulgence that the live set did (i.e. most of the songs are worth releasing rather than just putting out anything you can find). All areas of their career are represented but the bulk of the material seems to come from more recent sessions for albums like Binaural and Riot Act.

Highlights include the great "Hitchhiker" (dedicated to the jerks who score celebrity autographs just to sell them at top dollar to fans), their cover of The Who/Kinks/Motorhead classic "Leaving Here" (from the Home Alive benefit CD), the surfing "Gremmie Out Of Control" and the beautiful Hendrix-fuelled "Yellow Ledbetter."

There's even a track they did for the "Dead Man" soundtrack that was never used! For fans who would suck up over 70 different live albums from one tour, this little set may seem a mere morsel, but it is tasty in parts nonetheless.