Lost Dogs

A two-disc collection of B-sides and rarities from Pearl Jam, released November 11, 2003.

Lost Dogs is a two-disc compilation album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on November 11, 2003 through Epic Records. The album is a double-disc collection of B-sides and other released and unreleased rarities. Lost Dogs sold 89,500 copies in its first week of release and debuted at number fifteen on the Billboard 200 chart. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States.

Quick Facts

Artist

Pearl Jam

Released

November 11, 2003

Recorded

1991–2003

Genre

Alternative rock; grunge

Length

111:55

Label

Epic

Producer

Tchad Blake
Stone Gossard
Adam Kasper
Brendan O'Brien
Rick Parashar
Pearl Jam
Eddie Vedder
Westwood One Broadcast

Lore & Background

A number of songs included on Lost Dogs differ from the originally released versions, including "Alone", "U", "Wash" and "Dirty Frank". The album includes the hidden track "4/20/02" at the end of disc two, a tribute to Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley. It was written by vocalist Eddie Vedder during the recording sessions for Riot Act on the day that he heard the news of Staley's death. The song features only Vedder singing and playing the guitar in a ukulele-inspired tuning. According to Vedder, the reason why it was not included on Riot Act was that the band already had too many songs. According to guitarist Mike McCready, the reason the song was only featured as a hidden track on Lost Dogs is because Vedder "wouldn't want it to be exploitative". "Angel" (from the 1993 fan club Christmas single) was supposed to appear on disc two, but was deleted before release. There is still mention of it on the "lost dogs" flyers on the back cover. The song "Bee Girl" is a tribute to Heather DeLoach, who appeared in a bee costume in the music video for "No Rain" by Blind Melon.

Reader's Guide

Disc one includes tracks such as "All Night" (previously unreleased No Code outtake), "Sad" (previously unreleased Binaural outtake originally titled "Letter to the Dead"), "Down" (originally from the "I Am Mine" single), and "Alone" (originally from the "Go" single, this version has new vocals and slightly different lyrics and is shorter than the B-side version). Disc two includes "Fatal" (previously unreleased Binaural outtake), "Other Side" (originally from the "Save You" single), "Hard to Imagine" (originally from the Chicago Cab soundtrack, this version has a different vocal recording and mix), and "Footsteps" (originally from the "Jeremy" single, recorded live during Pearl Jam's appearance on Rockline on May 11, 1992). The hidden track "4/20/02" is contained within "Bee Girl" at 6:04, roughly four minutes and twenty seconds after "Bee Girl". 4/20/02 is the date Vedder heard of Staley's passing. Staley had died earlier on 4/05/02, but was not discovered until 4/19/02.