I just got the latest issue of Blender yesterday, and they reviewed the greatest hits collection. It's a decent review, they gave it four stars and had some good points in the review, so I thought you might want to read it.

Pearl Jam
Rearviewmirror: greatest hits 1991–2003

(Epic)
Release Date: 11/16/2004

Two discs of anguished anthems from the flannel superstars
Reviewed by Jonah Weiner

During Pearl Jam’s early ’90s heyday, Eddie Vedder was grunge’s Bono: sensitive, principled and blessed with a gorgeous howl. But Vedder was also pathologically humble — good-bye, Bono comparison — and petrified by the millions of confused kids turning to him for answers. With 50 million albums sold, Pearl Jam represented alt-rock’s breakthrough more than any other band. But where Kurt Cobain, who first criticized Vedder as a sellout and later came to admire him, rode the contradictions between idealism and celebrity to suicide, Pearl Jam’s frontman cautiously embraced the two, famously offering his home number to fans on a radio show, contributing songs to benefit CDs and waging a for-the-kids war against Ticketmaster.

This chronological retrospective starts off snarling. From 1991’s Ten, the blistering “Once” follows a sociopath driving around with a gun and a prostitute. The rallying cry “Alive” imagines a survivor of mother-son incest, while “Jeremy” dives inside the head of an adolescent suicide. Vedder identified with outcasts of all shapes, but especially those unfortunate enough to live with their parents.

1993’s lean, muscular Vs. offset the metal-tinged “Go” (from the perspective of a physically abusive man) with the acoustic guitar-driven “Daughter” (from that of an emotionally abused girl). Recorded just after Cobain’s death, 1994’s Vitalogy was a lashing-out (“Not for You”), a lament (“Immortality”) and a letting-loose (“Spin the Black Circle” playfully turns a heroin ode into a vinyl ode).

Those last two songs show how Vedder matured without losing his scruples. On 1996’s No Code and 1998’s Yield, his writing expanded to include somber self-examination (“Off He Goes”), irony (“Do the Evolution”) and momentary elation (“Hail Hail”). The sonics turned weirder, too — where Cobain dressed in drag and kissed boys to test casual fans, Pearl Jam did their testing with chants, tribal rhythms and avant-garde rackets. By 2002, after Scott Stapp’s histrionic Vedder parody had taken Creed worldwide, Vedder had already dumped histrionics. Weary and sardonic, he got political on Riot Act, the band’s lowest seller. For anyone else, the drop in sales might have hurt — for Vedder, it was probably validating.

DOWNLOAD: “Alive,” “Daughter”

not bad

Great...
what does - avant-garde rackets- .. and - Weary and sardonic- ,.. mean ???

The band probably doesn't read reviews, but if they did, I bet they'd shake their heads and gag everytime they read "flannel superstars"

I give Rearviewmirror a 9/10

there was another thread about this review. it's actually very good, considering all the crap the press has been saying about PJ and Ed since i joined the board.