(Monkeywrench Records)

http://www.monkeywrenchrecords.com/

For more seasoned fans of Pearl Jam, the mid-'90s bring to mind mixed feelings of excitement and disappointment. While the band released two of the best albums from the decade in Vs. and Vitalogy, the group also engaged in a hopeless battle against Ticketmaster. This resulted in few live performances in the U.S. by one of the best acts of the era during its creative peak.

The band began to make things right with its 1998 tour in support of its fifth album, Yield, including shows at previously boycotted Ticketmaster venues. The resulting live album, Live on Two legs, released just in time for the holiday season in '98, is a blistering, exhilarating collection of 16 songs showing just what fans had missed. Lead singer Eddie Vedder even says at one point, after the album kicks off with "Corduroy," "Given to Fly" and "Hail Hail," that "We're making up for lost time here."

All of this, of course, is a distant memory as the band's most recent live compilation Live on Ten Legs. Beginning in 2000, the band has consistently toured every couple of years, playing hundreds of shows. In conjunction with most of these shows, the band has released "official" bootlegs, simply pressed with the date and location of the more or less entire set of each show. Toss in 2004's Live at Benaroya Hall, and the 2007 double shot of the download-only Live at Lollapalooza 2007 and the seven-disc Live at the Gorge 05/06, and, well, there's no shortage of live Pearl Jam to readily be had.

So, from a band with so many releases of practically every show the group has done in the last 11 years, is a new live Pearl Jam compilation necessary?

Unfortunately, not really.

The 18-song Live on Ten Legs is technically excellent. The recordings boast amazing sound quality, and Vedder's iconic voice sounds as strong and hungry as ever, and lead guitarist Mike McCready stands out for his exceptional ax work.

The new tracks demonstrate that 20 years on, Pearl Jam still has chops. Two selections from Backspacer stand out: "The Fixer" grips, and "Just Breathe" is a beautiful interlude. The Joe Strummer "Arms Aloft" cover kicks off the album well, and even some of the old stuff comes across as fresh, highlighted by "Reviewmirror," "State of Love & Trust" and "Spin the Black Circle."

Pearl Jam has nine studio albums to its name, and all but No Code show up here. But that exclusion disappoints. The band could have included "Habit" or "Present Tense," or at the least squeezed in the brief "Lukin." And there's one only Yield track, the welcomed sing-along "In Hiding."

Fans of Two Legs will notice that there are no duplicates from that compilation here, which is a nice touch. But whereas Two Legs comprised of songs from a specific summer following a drought of live performances, Ten Legs draws from 2003 to 2010, making for a lack of context.

And do we really need the all-too-familiar opening riff of "Jeremy" or "Alive"? Ten Legs thinks so. Or the - surprise surprise - closing "Yellow Ledbetter" (as opposed to something like The Who's "Baba O'Riley, which the band has closed with at times). Throw in an unnecessary "Animal," and spots on the album feel stale. At least, thankfully, "Daughter" didn't make the cut, with its typically indulgent, bloated and unneeded jam session.

If you're 13 and wondering what these Pearl Jam fellas are all about, Live on Ten Legs is a perfectly acceptable primer. Heck, grab Two Legs as well, and you'll own  a collection of 33 songs spanning the Pearl Jam catalog. Or, if you only check into PJ once every 10 years or so, pick this up. Or maybe a completist, but you've probably already bought this. For the rest of us, Live on Ten Legs is a well-produced yet unnecessary compilation with few surprises.

DOWNLOAD: "The Fixer," "Arms Aloft" "Spin the Black Circle" ROBERT FULTON