Sleeping in the Nothing
It would be easy to dismiss Kelly Osbourne's musical ambitions based on 1) Her royally obnoxious behavior on the family's MTV reality series, 2) Her overly manufactured debut album,Shut Up, and 3) That voice, which up until now, sounded like cats on a chalkboard. But spare a moment for the bratty singer's follow-up effort, a remarkably faithful new-wave throwback, which generously references everyone from Duran Duran to Missing Persons. Producer Linda Perry not only effectively revives the dramatic sounds and melodies of the era but offers songs that perfectly suit Osbourne's, er, constrained vocal range. The resulting disc is full of guilty pleasures like "Uh Oh" and "Redlight," tunes that should strike a chord with anyone that still gets a thrill out of happening upon basic cable reruns of "Sixteen Candles."--Aidin Vaziri