On Halfway to Eighty, riff-heavy anthems like "Helping Hand" are courtesy of Wachtel, while art-rock thrashers like "Slacker" are Shaheen's handiwork, and smirking punk numbers like "False Equivalent" are Michicoff's. ("What good can it bring now? / We're barely evolved" sings Michicoff on that last song, a squall of guitars swirling around his trembling tenor.) When you keep an ear out for them, you can hear each distinct personality in the songs, but taken as a whole, it's yet another primo Panthers set of post-Cramps, post-DEVO outsider rock and roll. Taken at full, Halfway to Eighty is an embrace of much more than just a band. It's a statement of dedication to the calling of music - to sticking with making art as long as you want to, age be damned.
