ALBANY -- Los Straitjackets threw a party at Valentine's Music Hall on Thursday night the likes of which has rarely been seen on our humble turf.

Not content simply to deliver their instrumental surf stuff clad in their trademark Mexican wrestling masks, the band upped the ante, bringing garage rock icon Peter Zaremba and the World Famous Pontani Sisters along for the ride.

And what a ride.

Zaremba -- the voice, if you will, behind the frat-rocking Fleshtones -- joined up to sing some of the tunes from the group's latest release, "Sing Along With Los Straitjackets,'' a predominantly vocal effort with different guests, including Dave Alvin, Mark Lindsay and Raul Malo, singing classic 1960s nuggets.

The Pontanis, well they only came to dance. Go-go dance, that is. The triple-threat combo of the serpentine Straitjackets, the Jagger-esque Zaremba and the hot-yet-hilarious Pontanis was unbeatable.

The Nashville-based Straitjackets, featuring Watervliet native Eddie Angel, kicked off the show with 40 minutes of expert guitar wrangling -- squeezing out pure reverb-drenched tones that were all the envy of other musicians in the room.

Angel's "The Casbah'' (from "Viva! Los Straitjackets'') was appropriately mysterious, rubbing an Eastern motif against the band's inherent twang. "Itchy Chicken'' echoed its title with Angel and Danny Amis tossing tightly plucked guitar squawks back and forth across the stage.

Later in the show, bassist Pete Curry switched over to the six-string for a run through Richard Rodgers' "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue."

Zaremba jumped up for the second song of the second set, playing party man to the hilt. Unfortunately he did slow things down a bit between tunes, trying unsuccessfully to ape Amis' entertaining Spanish exclamations.

Zaremba also wore a flashy gold spangled shirt in the vain hope of standing out on a stage filled with four dudes in wrestling masks and three girls in skimpy yet sumptuous outfits. He lost that battle before he left the dressing room.

The Pontanis were clearly the hit of the evening, whether dancing with the band in little Mexican maid get-ups or performing their brace of midshow production numbers. The trio -- Tara, Angie and Helen -- are all the rage in New York these days, and with good reason. They mix humor, sensuality and a genuine vintage sense of show.

Rosemary Clooney's "Mambo Italiano" became a hip-shaking festival of fruity hats (think Imogene Coca gone wild) and fast moves. A tribute to the Rat Pack (complete with pictures of Frank, Dino and Sammy on their bouffants) wowed the crowd as well.

The evening's tour de force was a sweeping instrumental rendition of "My Heart Will Go On'' from "Titanic,'' with accompanying synchronized swimming moves from the Pontanis. And if you think that's not a slice of rock 'n' roll heaven, then you clearly weren't at Valentine's on Thursday.