Talk about mixing the sacred and the profane. How does a bit of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" crossed with, say, Mel Brooks' "Springtime for Hitler" grab you? Or how about a head-on collision between "Suffragette City" and "MacArthur Park" (the Richard Harris version, natch)? That's the territory covered by diminutive Chicagoan Bobby Conn on Rise Up!, a would-be rock opera about the apocalypse. The concept doesn't really hang together, but who cares? Half the fun is listening to Conn rant, croon, preach and plead about doom, decadence and the Antichrist. "I'm gonna do you all/In my satin Speedo," he crows on "White Bread" while a munchkin chorus, a jaunty piccolo and a fuzzed-up guitar dance in merriment. Elsewhere, lyrics are sung in Hebrew, nervous New Wave grooves mutate into swank bossa novas, and lead vocals float in falsetto homage to Gayé or mutter confessions in a Sammy Davis Jr. baritone.

"I have forgotten how to dream," an exhausted little Bobby declares, alone in the imaginary spotlight of the album's last song, "Rise Up, Now!" Then the music sweeps him away; in less than four minutes, it moves from orchestral pop to disco funk, pauses for a Moog solo and then goes into a rousing finale worthy of Godspell. Can't wait to see the video. (RS 800)

GREG KOT