Lost Dogs

This collection of leftovers, rarities, outtakes, b-sides, and stray tracks is in some ways the best way to hear this definitive “grunge” band. Its debut album, Ten, established Pearl Jam in the public mind as an ennui-laden powerhouse of a hard rock band, but while Eddie Vedder sings with an arena rock singer’s sense of reach, he also just as easily sits himself in the corner to mourn in quiet. Lost Dogs is much more fun than the band’s proper studio albums. It has no need to fulfill or extend a particular album’s mood. In its place is a looseness the band rarely explores. The rockers kick with wilder abandon (“Sad,” “Alone”), the pop songs flow with a sweet twist (“Down,” “Hitchhiker“), the ballads express great sorrow and mystery (“Strangest Tribe,” “Drifting,” “4/20/02”), and the goofy moments like the mock-noir of “Sweet Lew” and the funk-metal “Dirty Frank” show the band has a sense of humor. “Last Kiss” and “Yellow Ledbetter” are the most familiar to fans with 11 previously unreleased tracks making for added bonus.