ALBUM REVIEW: "Sticky Mittens" 

Watkins and the Rapiers

"Sticky Mittens"

All Time Records

rapiers.org

Who wouldn't like to have their stocking stuffed with this salute to a cool Yule? Watkins and the Rapiers is a brilliant wisenheimer ensemble of musical mirth — just dig the Rolling Stones-inspired cover starring Dick "Tripod" Storms. On "Sticky Mittens," the band proves it can still turn out a beautacious gem like "All The Stars At Christmas" — Dylan wishes he wrote this one, I'm certain — a paranoid salvo to Santa with "The Santa Clause Parade," or the fact that the jolly old elf is running in the black at "Santaland."

This whole album should become a holiday staple (it's the band's second Christmas album, don't cha know), and used to purge some of the putrid Yuletide saccharin pop from the airways. With musical chops and heaps of humor, Watkins and the Rapiers attack the holiday's foibles and mind-numbing carols. God rest these merry gentleman and all their irreverence.