Pearl Jam – Lost Dogs Review

Pearl Jam: Lost Dogs
Epic Records (Sony)
Released 11-11-2003
$14.88 Walmart, 2-discs

I have something of an announcement to make. I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan. I have been since I saw the Jeremy video all those years ago. Nirvana never did it for me, I thought they were overrated when Teen Spirit came out and I felt they became even MORE overrated when Cobain took the top of his head off with a shotgun. The breakthrough band from Seattle, in my mind, was always Pearl Jam. They burst onto the scene with a great video, a great single, and have managed to remain on the scene for the last 14 years.

Over that time, with 7 studio releases, a live set, and nearly 200 authorized bootleg discs of their 2000 and 2003 tours, Pearl Jam has racked up quite a catalog over time. One thing Pearl Jam has always been very good about is including various B-sides with their albums and, of course, members of the Ten Club (the band’s official fan club) are treated to a (usually) 3-track Christmas gift each year.

So, as you may be able to imagine, there’s a whole lot of material that ended up on the cutting room floor, or that only saw the light of day as B-sides. Rumors and requests for a disc of B-sides have existed for years, and the band finally obliged, clearing out a lot of the material people have wanted on a major release.

This disc is evenly divided between stuff that has never been released on a studio album, stuff that was released on the Christmas singles, stuff that was a B-side on a Single, and stuff only available on import versions.

There is a huge range of material on these two albums, extending from some of the excellent things they produced when they were still an up and coming, gritty Seattle band with something to say all the way to the directionless, Pink-Floyd-wannabe, political band they’ve been trying to become in the last few years.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

The packaging is normal for Pearl Jam, forgoing the plastic jewel case for the green-friendly cardboard cases. The disc art is all photographs taken by Jeff Ament, as has been the norm for the disc art since No Code. The booklet included with the discs

Disc One

1. All Night, A song recorded in 1996 during the No Code sessions. No real story about why they decided against including this track, but I think it is better than most of the stuff that did make it on to No Code. It is very obviously a post-Vitalogy song, with a Hail, Hail feel to it. Very simple riff and experiments with harmony that they wouldn’t explore further until later albums. Obviously they weren’t ready to go forth with it just yet.
2. Sad: Previously unreleased track from either the Binaural or Riot Act recordings. Again, no idea why this wasn’t included on the album, as it’s an excellent song. The notes simply say It’s the other Side of Jeff’s song “Other Side”. Also has been called Letter to the Dead by the band. This is probably one of the best Pearl Jam songs to come out in recent years.
3. Down: Originally Released as the B-Side of I Am Mine, the lead single off the Riot Act album. Better song than I Am Mine and usual of Pearl Jam including a free, excellent B-Side on a single. According to the notes, the song was dropped from Riot Act because it didn’t fit with the mood of the rest of the album. Which is obvious since this song is good. The song sounds more like it belongs on No Code than Riot Act.
4. Hitchhiker: Previously unreleased track from the Binaural sessions. The first song on the disc that should have stayed on the cutting room floor permanently and burned if there was a spare match. This is a case of Pearl Jam trying to do something different, and failing miserably. Occasionally, Ed needs to be reminded that he’s not a tenor, and this serves that purpose.
5. Don’t Gimme No Lip: Previously unreleased track from the No Code sessions. This is the first song that Stone Gossard wrote and sang for the band. Unfortunately it wasn’t the last as he would go on to sing Mankind. In fairness, it’s not an AWFUL song, but it doesn’t sound like a Pearl Jam song. I love Stone’s guitars, but he’s not a singer by any stretch of the imagination.
6. Alone: Easily in my top ten favorite Pearl Jam songs, a version of this song was originally released as the B-side to Go from Vs. I say “a version of” because this is a different recording than the song that appears on the single, which I was somewhat disappointed in. The song on the Go single has an extra half verse that is abandoned in this recording. From the sound of Ed’s voice, it was re-recorded sometime after the B-side was, as he doesn’t have that gritty, deep sound that he lost around No Code. Still a good song, even though the version on the original single is better.
7. In the Moonlight: Previously unreleased track recorded for Binaural. Written completely by Matt Cameron, the song is another one of those that really doesn’t sound like a Pearl Jam song probably because it’s written by Cameron. The song wouldn’t have fit on Binaural though.
8. Education: Another unreleased track from Binaural. I am questioning my education is the first line of the song and it pretty much sums up the entire track.
9. Black, Red, Yellow: Inspired by a developing Polaroid of Dennis Rodman’s eyeball taken for the No Code cover. Didn’t make No Code, but did make the B-Side of Hail, Hail. Music is OK, but Ed sounds awful in it.
10. U: Originally releases as the B-Side of Wishlist. According to Ed: This song was written on a ten minute drive. Had the trip been any longer, I’m sure it would have been more complex. As simple a song as the A-side of this single, it features a very simple riff and a very simple bassline over very simple lyrics. One of the better songs and, again, very distinctive of the time when it was written as it sounds like a Yield

.

11. Leavin Here: Originally recorded for 1996’s Home Alive Benefit Album. Tried to sound sound like a mix of punk, blues, and pop all at the same time. It leads to an interesting mix, but not necessarily a good one. A decent song all-in-all, but not something I dig.
12. Gremmie Out of Control: Released on the “MOM” (Music for our Mother’s Ocean) benefit album in 1996. Cover of a surf tune. Unless you really like surfer type songs, skip this track and never, ever listen to it.
13. The Whale Song: Released on the “MOM III” benefit album. Written totally by Jack Irons and sang by him as well. It’s about a whale and Jack Irons is another guy who is not a singer at all. They swim, swim free. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Yeah deep, man deep.
14. Undone: Originally released as the B-side to the European and Australian I Am Mine single. Another one of Pearl Jam’s new-fangled, stylish political songs, hence it sat along Bu$hleager on the single. A good upbeat tune, with something to say, even if it is random Green Party nonsense.
15. Hold On: Unreleased track from Vs, which means it’s been kickin around the library for quite awhile. Very, VERY good song, I think but it’s not something that Pearl Jam’s audience was ready for on the sophomore album. I like this track more and more each time I listen to it, and I have a feeling it might bump something out of the top ten given enough time.
16. Yellow Ledbetter: One of Pearl Jam’s best songs I think, but then, I’m a huge fan of the guitar. The song originally made it on to B-side of the Jeremy single, thus guaranteeing an assload of people would have it. I think it’s one of the only songs in history to get major radio airplay with never having been on a major release. This has grown into the favorite song of many Pearl Jam fans. The history of the song is recounted by Mike McCready in the jacket.

Disc Two

17. Fatal: Another Binaural Castoff. Nothing rock about this song at all meaning it’s definitely a Binaural song
18. Other Side: B-side track to Love Boat Captain and a better song than that. This would be the other part of Sad. Another song about death.
19. Hard to Imagine: Dropped song from Vs, but found it’s way onto the soundtrack of 1998’s Chicago Cab film. Another song simply dropped from Vs because I don’t think the fan base was ready for a side of Pearl Jam this soft yet. Very Pink Floyd-y sound that wouldn’t fit onto a PJ album until sometime around Yield or Binaural. Very good, trippy, tune.
20. Footsteps: Also included as a second B-side to Jeremy, making that single one of the best five dollars anyone could ever spend. This track has either been re-recorded for this disc or had a harmonica part overlaid onto it. If you’ve never heard it, it’s Stone on guitar and Ed singing and that’s it. I have always loved this song.
21. Wash: Originally a B-Side of the Alive single. Another one that has been re-recorded for this disc and another one that I don’t think it was necessary to do so. I have always thought this would have been a better inclusion on Ten than Garden, but what do I know. Another great song from the early years.
22. Dead Man Walking: Originally a B-Side of the Off he Goes single it was cut from both No Code and from the Dead Man Walking Soundtrack. Very dark, sinister sounding song. Stone says he doesn’t know how it got cut from the album. I do because it wouldn’t have sounded right on the album. No Code was generally upbeat. This is not. This song could have some cello in it, too which is not a normal PJ instrument.
23. Strangest Tribe: Originally from the 1999 Christmas Single. Very slow, meandering song. Again, definitely representative of where the band was around Binaural. No where good.
24. Drifting: Also included on the 1999 Christmas Single. Sounds very Dylan-esque with guitar and harmonica. Not much of a rock song. See above.
25. Let Me Sleep: I believe this was off the first Christmas single, recorded in 1991. The full name of this song is Let me Sleep (It’s Christmas Time) and could be the only actual Christmas song on the Christmas albums.
26. Last Kiss: Pearl Jam’s most popular recent single. A cover included on the 1998 fan club single and the “No Boundaries” benefit album and then released as a stand-alone single when it because wildly popular. How exactly this got included as a “rarity” or a “B-side,” I have no idea. Recorded because, ad Ed says: We’ve done really well with teenage death songs.
27. Sweet Lew: Rounding out letting the entire band sing a song on this album (minus Mike), this song was written entirely and performed by Jeff Ament and was cut from the Yield album.
28. Dirty Frank: B-side of the Evenflow Single and Included on foreign releases of Ten. I would assume it wasn’t included on American versions of Ten because it sounds like a clone of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Give it Away. I mean, it could be the riff with different lyrics.
29. Brother: An instrumental riff created during the Ten sessions that nearly caused the band to break up. According to Jeff Ament, he loved the riff so much that when Stone decided he didn’t care for it anymore, Jeff nearly left the band.
30. Bee Girl: According to everything I can find, this was never released on anything, but I swear it was. Regardless, this was a song written about the Girl at the beginning of Blind Melon‘s No Rain. I have never been a big fan of this song, and this album certainly didn’t change my opinion. According to Jeff Ament, the song was created on the spot for a radio show while they were in studio doing an interview.
31. Ghost Track: A quick little note that was written by Ed for Layne Staley after his passing. It’s a hidden track

All in all, this is a really good, career spanning selection of stuff. I think I would have dropped one or two or ALL of the Binaural out-takes and replaced them with both the songs of the Singles soundtrack, which includes my two favorite Pearl Jam songs ever, State of Love and Trust and Breath. Some of the stuff is excellent and some of the stuff should have been clipped from the albums and never looked at again mostly the stuff that Eddie doesn’t sing.

But, on the other hand, it is easily Pearl Jam’s best release since Vitalogy, mostly based on the strength of a lot of their older material and some very good songs that were cut off albums because they didn’t fit with the direction Pearl Jam has moved in the second half of their existing career.

All in all, though, I give it a high recommendation to pick up. It’s good for the hardcore fan, and it will even acquaint newer fans who may not have Ten people I like to refer to as “idiots” or “heretics.”