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\u002Fcollaborator 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.