CYNTHIA ROSE - REAL TIME HOT TIPS

• FIRST GREAT POP SONG OF 1995
  ...belongs to the Model Rockets of Seattle and is entitled "Johnson's Plumbing Supply". A touching number written in the voice of a one-time combo member addressing a pal who made the big leagues, this will bring tears to the eyes of all true pop fans. Especially its punchline chorus: "if you still have a copy of that tape from '85, send it C.O.D., care of Johnson's Plumbing Supply". (C.O.D., Euro-readers, is Americo-postal-speak for "cash on delivery"). Or: "Every Christmas, the UPS man brings me a bottle of booze...I wish I were in your shoes." (UPS, again, stands for United Parcel Service).

  
  A song about growing older, having to settle, compromising -- and sung with as much verve than anything FROM "the old days". And it comes from a nearly-perfect pop CD, by the title of "Hilux" on Lucky Records. Cuts of equal musical brilliance tackle more varied themes: "Ditched At the Grand Illusion" (ostensibly about a guy stood up in a moviehouse, actually about much more), ""Daredevil Girl", and "Year of the Sofa" ("In the year of the sofa, all the clocks ran on love/And no-one needed drugs to make it fun"). Others, like "New Cinnamon Girl" simply SOUND wonderful.

  Who's behind these little gems? Well, the songs are written and sung by one John Ramberg, veteran of a group named Stumpy Joe -- and here revealed as one of America's finer pop composers.

  Although they've been playing out weekly at home, there are currently no tour plans for Model Rockets. Still, you'll be seeing and hearing more about them soon (the lyrics above have already become a critics' mantra). "Hilux" is on sale at every Rockets' gig -- or it can be ordered from Fallout Records, 1506 East Olive Way, Seattle 98122 USA, Tel (US) 206-323-2662.

  New Cinnamon Girl
  

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