Now here’s a curious one. Upon the release of Pearl Jam’s new live video, the band announced that they planned to give away a free 16 track live CD with every copy, featuring songs from the bands’ world tour. Soon after and without any warning, their label stepped in shortly before the video’s release, stating that it would no longer be accompanied by the CD, giving no reason. It was shortly after this that Epic announced that they were to release a 16 track live CD of Pearl Jam’s 1998 world tour, although this CD would not be free. Strange, that.

Live On Two Legs is a rich and varied trawl through the Pearl Jam back catalogue. The set is a good mixture of tracks from all five albums, with three songs from each except for Ten, from which the anthemic Even Flow and the amazing Black are selected. The phenomenal Jeremy that broke the band in the first place has been ignored here, but bands have to move on, and Pearl Jam have done this with great style.

Generally, the songs on Live On Two Legs are played well. Some are cringe inducing such as Hail, Hail because of the difference to the recorded versions but they soon sound as good as the originals and sometimes even better, as proven by an excellent extended version of Daughter. It’s only when you hear an album of this kind that you realise exactly how good a band Pearl Jam are; classics from Ten are placed side by side with brand new tracks that are just as catchy, as well as album favourites such as Better Man, Do The Evolution and Off He Goes. There’s also an untitled track and even a cover of Neil Young’s F*ckin’ Up.

Fans of the band will already know what kind of an album this must be and will probably be on their way to the record shop right now. If you’re new to Pearl Jam then maybe a studio album would be a better bet, but either way you’ll be glad you made the effort.