here's a nice review i came accrossed

Pearl Jam album is real gem 11-25-2004
By JASON JOHNSON
Herald Music Reviewer

Artist: Pearl Jam

Album: “rearviewmirror Greatest Hits 1991-2003”

Release Date: Nov. 16, 2004

Genre: Alternative Rock

Wow. As I sat down to write this, I had to look at the title of this album a couple of times to make sure I had it right. No, I´m not talking about the all lower-case, no spaces title. Rather, I was thinking along the lines of “Has it really been 13 years since the debut of Pearl Jam?”

That´s 45 percent of my entire lifetime! No wonder I feel such a strong connection to this band. They´ve been an integral part of my CD collection ever since ´91, so you can imagine that I was very interested when I heard Pearl Jam was releasing a greatest hits album.

I figured there wouldn´t be anything on the CD that I didn´t already own, but I thought I´d check it out anyway, just to be certain. The collection is arranged into two CDs, with a total of 33 tracks for your listening enjoyment. They´re also further arranged into an “upside” and “downside.”

The first CD is compiled of their faster songs (“upside”) and the self-explanatory “downside” is the collection of slower tunes. At first, I wasn´t so sure about this split, but after owning the double CD set for a week, I have to say that it grew on me. Sometimes on rainy days (when is it ever going to stop raining?) it´s nice to be able to throw on the slower CD to fit the mood a little better.

If you own all the Pearl Jam CDs, here´s the one thing you´re missing if you don´t own this collection yet. “Once,” “Alive” and “Black” - all from the “Ten” album - have been cleaned up and remixed to sound the way they were meant to be.

As someone who´s listened to “Ten” more times than I´d like to admit, I could tell the difference immediately. From the opening seconds of the first track (“Once”), I thought, “Hmmm something definitely is different here.” Diehard Pearl Jam fans will notice the difference immediately as well.

Also included on the compilation are the two fantastic tracks from the “Singles” soundtrack that most casual Pearl Jam listeners probably don´t own - or have even heard before for that matter. I hadn´t heard those two songs, “Breath” and “State of Love and Trust,” in a long time because my copy of the “Singles” soundtrack has been AWOL for quite sometime.

Also, “Yellow Ledbetter,” originally released as a B-side to the single “Jeremy,” makes an appearance on here as well, much to my delight. However, Pearl Jam is such a great band that it would be impossible to fit all of their incredible material into two CDs. For instance, I immediately noticed that “Indifference” from the “Vs.” album is missing.

If you already own all the Pearl Jam albums, then it might not be worthy of shelling out another $15. But for the casual fan, this is a value not to be missed.

The High Spots: Do I really need to point these out? Great music, great compilation, great price, incredible value!

The Low Spots: One of my favorite songs is missing, but that´s really stretching it to find a low spot.

Rating: 10 out of 10

nice, thanks for posting

It seems that Ten is the only album in PJ history

It's boring to only hear what diehards have to say. Plus the writing is dull.

It's nice to see a great review. Not many "diehards" have this kind of access to mainstream media, so any + news is great!

I'm a big Pearl Jam fan, but even I only give the album 5 of 10 at best.

the album is not gonna be everyone's favorite personal songs...get over it...it is a great cross section of the band's music...and let's face it, TEN and VS. were Pearl Jam...that's what people bought....then they started fading...so those are the people that might pick up the greatest hits..not die hards that are going to listen to every live and studio song and make their favorite compilation...i think the review was positive and who cares if she's all over Ten...

The only reason I might buy it is to hear the remixed versions