Lost Dogs

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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.

In Their Own Story

Lost Dogs was generally well-received by music critics upon its initial release. AllMusic staff writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four and a half out of five stars. He said, "This is further proof that Pearl Jam consciously turned away from the big, anthemic sound and spirit that won them a mass audience with Ten—they still had the songs and sound, they just chose to bury it. Lost Dogs crackles with that passion and it has another advantage: unlike most of Pearl Jam's albums, it's a fun, compulsive listen. More than any other album in its catalog, Lost Dogs captures what Pearl Jam stood for and what it felt like at their peak." Rolling Stone staff writer David Fricke gave the album three out of five stars, saying that "for an album of odds 'n' sods, Lost Dogs sure sounds a lot like a pack of hits." In a review for Spin, music critic Will Hermes compared it to other compilations by claiming that "Unlike most collections of its kind, Dogs seems motivated more by good sense than greed; even the song about saving the whales is kinda kicky."

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.

Did You Know?

• Lost Dogs sold 89,500 copies in its first week of release and debuted at number fifteen on the Billboard 200 chart.
• The hidden track "4/20/02" is a tribute to Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, written by Eddie Vedder on the day he heard the news of Staley's death.
• According to guitarist Mike McCready, the reason "4/20/02" was only a hidden track is because Vedder 'wouldn't want it to be exploitative'.
• 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.
• The track "Angel" from the 1993 fan club Christmas single was supposed to appear on disc two but was deleted before release.