rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)

rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)

rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)
rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003) Artist: Pearl Jam (Usually ships in 24 hours) In an era when pop nihilism fulfilled its dark promise all too regularly, Pearl Jam not only survived, but thrived to become one of rock's greatest bands. This 33-track double-disc career retrospective documents the arc of a career that went from arena and radio triumphs in the early 90's (while Nirvana's promise imploded in the wake of hype, Pearl Jam's crowd-pleasing fame only burgeoned) to the uncompromising, core audience-focused tack that carried the band into the 21st century. Shrewdly compiled by the band into an "Up" disc that chronicles the band's driving, Stone Gossard-Mike McCready fueled hard rock dramatics (including such early career landmarks as "Jeremy," "Alive" and "Even Flow" alongside more aggressive fare like "Go" and "Spin the Black Circle") and a "Down" side that focuses more on Eddie Vedder's brooding, often dark ballads ("Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town," "Yellow Ledbetter," their unlikely hit cover of the oldie "Last Kiss"), it's a collection that underscores both the band's range and musical integrity. Though centered largely on the band's pre-Vitalogy studio era and containing no new material, longtime producer/collaborator Brendan O'Brien contributes remixes of "Once," "Alive" and "Black" that offer new insights on the familiar, while non-album tracks like "Man of the Hour" and "State of Love and Trust" considerably enhance the overall listening perspective here. --Jerry McCulley Greatest American Band .....Ever This is a greatest hits albumn of the greatest American Band ever.....so how could it be bad. Pearl Jam is one of the top 10 greatest bands ever and it took this long for them to get a greatest hits cd?.....that kinda sucks but this albumn does not....it is great...you finally get a studio version of I got Id, which to me is easily one of their best songs.... A more than solid retrospective of a legendary band "Rearviewmirror" is about what you'd expect from a career-spanning retrospective of one of the greatest and most sucessful bands of the 90's. This double disc set features just about all the songs you'd expect to be on a Pearl Jam greatest hits album; from "Jeremy" to "Alive" to "Black" to "Glorified G" to "Do the Evolution", they're all here and they all sound great. There's no unreleased or new material included here as bonuses, which is a disapointment, but that's why there's "Lost Dogs", and Brendan O'Brien's remixes of "Once", "Black", and "Jeremy", which are decent. Hardcore fans will nit-pick over what's been included here and what hasn't, but for casual fans or new fans to the band, "rearviewmirror" is a more than worthy and solid entry point to one of the best and most influential groups to come out of the 90's. Well Conceived Design, Great Sound Quality, Great Compilation! This 2-Disc best of compilation of the great band comes wonderfully packaged in gatefold cardboard sleeve which unfolds into 3 square pieces. It also contains a 16-page booklet that contains pictures of the band as well as the credits page. The tracks are also thoughtfully arranged so that all the harder, faster paced tracks are on the "Up" side (Disc One)and the slower paced ones are on the "Down" side (Disc Two). Most importantly though, the sound quality is very, very good due in no small part to the great remixing done by Brendan O'Brien on "Once" and "Alive". Let's hope they do a similar job on "Ten" and "Vs" and rerelease them in mini-lp sleeve replica designs too! I've always thought that the sound quality on these two and especially on "Ten" was not as good as it could be. Great track selections, great sound quality, great album design and packaging all make this the best (and currently the only) compilation album of Pearl Jam that's out there. Great for those of you who want to sample or learn more about the band but don't want to get all the albums. Recommended.