Since my little brother is returning from Italy tomorrow, and I also have something big planned for Pearl Jam in May, “Brother” has been playing a lot this week.

“Brother” appears on Pearl Jam’s Lost Dogsalbum, which is full of rarities. It was originally an outtake from their debut album Ten.

Apparently this song almost broke the band up before they even got started. Stone Gossard, who wrote the song, was tired of playing the riff which ticked off bassist Jeff Ament to point of almost quiting the band. Gossard apparently didn’t even care to have “Brother” included on Lost Dogs.

There’s even more trouble with this song. See the original version included lyrics and vocals by Eddie Vedder, but he wasn’t pleased with it. So, Vedder suggested Mike McCready overdub the vocals with some fantastic guitar work. This instrumental version is the one that appears on Lost Dogs.

While both versions are good, the instrumental version is just sick. Yes, a Pearl Jam song can rock without Vedder.

Judge for yourself.

“Brother” with vocals.

“Brother” instrumental