FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE Welcome Interstate Managers (Virgin)

Ten tracks into this, the third and latest album from Adam Schlesinger, Chris Collingwood and company, Fountains of Wayne delivers a truly incandescent pop moment with the ‘70s soft-rock evoking "Halley’s Waitress." With the inspirations of Burt Bacharach and the Carpenters trailing in its wake, "Halley’s Waitress," with its baroque piano, poignant string arrangement, vibes and theme of wistful regret, represents the rare indications of heart (rather than mind) dictating the Fountains Of Wayne pop agenda.

This superior mood and tone is mirrored in the folky "Hackensack" and the balladic Fire Island, not to mention the radio-friendly "All Kinds of Time."

Not that the band’s trademark driving sunshine pop-rock doesn’t in itself justify a recommendation. It’s just that I’ve always felt that this particular kind of Cheap Trick meets Pixies melodic crunch has been better served up by the likes of Weezer and Grandaddy. Worse still when juvenile urges are indulged with the rather distasteful "Stacy’s Mom" – imagine a much creepier "Jesse’s Girl," where instead of lusting after another guy’s girlfriend, this time it’s your girlfriend’s erm mother – although I presume it’s done as a parody but why go there at all?

That aberration apart, the songwriting duo’s knack for stitching together vivid novelettes ala Ray Davies remains intact. The working class dilemma is outlined in tracks like "Mexican Wine" – “I used to fly for United Airlines/Then I got fired for reading High Times,” "Bright Future in Sales" – “I had a line on a brand new account/But now I can’t seem to find/Where I wrote that number down” and "Little Red Light" – “Stuck in a meeting on a Monday night/trying to get the numbers to come out right.” Even happier to report that the boys’ sense of humour is not lost in songs like the bizarre action-replay paean "All Kinds Of Time," which simply describes an American Football TV scene, "No Better Place" with “Is that supposed to be your poker face/Or was someone run over by a train” and "Hey Julie" which illustrates the mundanity of the working stiff – “Working all day for a mean little man/With a clip-on tie and a rub-on tan.”

Hailed years ago as the Great White Hope of power pop, Fountains of Wayne do not disappoint with Welcome Interstate Managers, clocking in at 55-plus minutes and 16 tracks, discerning pop fans will relish every nuance and every lick. Indispensable. A