Admittedly "One Word," the lead single from Ms. Osbourne's sophomore album
release, was something of a revelation. A magnificent slice of retro
Electropop owing a significant debt to Visage's seminal New Wave anthem
"Fade To Grey," "One Word" had me hoping that young Kelly was poised to
re-launch herself as a chilly electronic dancefloor queen with this full
album. However, while I wouldn't say the rest of "Sleeping In The Nothing"
is bad, a full-on dance album this is not, and almost none of the other
tracks find themselves well suited for the discothèque. In fact, there's
really only one other song that find itself ready for club consumption in
its current guise, "Suburbia" (not a Pet Shop Boys cover), which starts out
with the type of deeply pumping bassline popularized with tracks like "Show
Me Love" by Robin S. but quickly layers on a bubblier overall production to
support Kelly's winsomely earnest teen angst vocals, making for an odd-
though not entirely unsuccessful- juxtaposition.
As far as the rest of the album goes, the other songs are more New-Wave
influenced Pop-Rock tracks, think perhaps MTV acts circa 1983 or the "Valley
Girl" soundtrack, with crunchy guitar lines overlaid by quirky synthesizer
chords lines. "I Can't Wait" is a perfect example of this and effectively
makes the most of Ms. Osbourne's yearning vocal. Wittiest moment for the CD
comes on "Secret Love" where Kelly campily incorporates a few lines from
Veruca Salt's show-stopper "I Want It Now" from "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate
Factory" while the deliciously giddy "Edge Of Your Atmosphere" zips along at
breakneck pace and wouldn't sound out of place on a Men Without Hats album
with bouncy synth lines and handclapped accents. Unfortunately, my promo copy
came without any liner notes as I'd be curious to know if Kelly actually
had a hand in writing the most lyrically notable song, "Don't Touch Me,"
which angrily deals with the difficult topic of date rape and earns the CD
its parental advisory for explicit lyrics.
Now Kelly isn't the world's strongest singer so she's primarily carrying
"Sleeping In The Nothing" with her verve and personality and thus the album
will probably do best with Ms. Osbourne's teenage fans who watch her on "The
Osbournes" TV show and are already familiar with her overall style and
attitude. More strictly dance-oriented aficionados may prefer to just buy
the CD single for "One Word."
