downtime, a perennial favorite of mine, has released the ultimate "our story so far" disk. Pass it On is a way of combining all of the best of the band's wild ride.

It all started innocently enough, at Grayson High School, with friends Ken Osbourne and Brian Phipps, who up and decided one day to start banging on some instruments. Now, seven years, several bass players, many, many gigs, and even one or two near-riot situations later, they've cemented the lineup with bass player Andy Turner and put out this CD, filled with all original music spanning their history.

Most songs on the album have been recorded before, in one form or another, on one of three other demos that the band offered at live shows or at select few area stores. For this special recording however, there were also a few old, almost forgotten favorites, such as "Calcutta's Exit" and "Cross the Line". The major difference between the older versions and these newer, shinier versions is the recording quality. Recorded at South by Southwest Studios in Roanoke, VA, this album sounds remarkable. No fuzzy, basement distortion, and a good vocal mix set this album on a higher level than the others.

The only real problems I can find with the disks are minor. For example, on some tracks the drums seem a little heavy-handed as compared to the rest of the picture. The progression of the disk is great, with one track meeting the end of the one before it, but sometimes the overlapping seems a little too quick. On the upside, though, there were some minor changes made to some of the songs. In my opinion, a drum fill here and harmonic there keeps the music fresh, and gives it a little variety.