Good Lord, Crosbys, the energy is jacked up for this track! I could listen to Van Halen’s pounding Panama drums + iconic guitar licks forever, and your a cappella-fied version gets the spirit and heat right on. Truly outrageous, roll the windows down fun right here. And, ten years in the making for your group?! FINALLY. 

But, there’s more to a song than its memorable hook and headbang ability (though not much more for '80s rock). On a Crosbys song, there’s also waiting to see if the guys bring out the crazy and crazy-filthy. After listening to the risqué Crosbys' bridge on Panama, you may recall previous Crosbys recordings of a similar nature. You'll probably want to queue up the orignal Panama to compare. But it turns out Van Halen is crazy and filthy, too, so this faithful spin is a match made in Binghamton Heaven.

If the lead was anything less than Sage Gibbons delivering a slide-across-the-stage-on-his-knees performance, if the production was anything less than Boxer/Trembinski/Boyer/Hare, this track would have likely been stunningly lame due to its natural repetition and heavy reliance on believable kitsch. Here, it growls and kicks just fine. What’s missing? I recently learned that guitarist Eddie Van Halen revs his 1972 Lamborghini Miura S in the background of the original Panama — the studio straight up attached a microphone to the exhaust pipe. How could you miss this crucial step, Crosbys? Short of that, I’m making the complaint you’ll hear a lot of sad RARB reviewers whine about: something about a perfect transcription and a lead who mimics, blah blah blah. It still rocks, even if I have to compare it across a cappella.

We’ll take another round, please!