Imbruglia a hit with pop debut

Don't let the album title of this Australian soap-star-turned-singing-sensation fool you.

This is hardly underground or alternative. Instead, Imbruglia's fast-selling debut is chock full of pop, venturing from edgy to breezy -- think Alanis Morissette meets Meredith Brooks.

In Imbruglia's case, the song which is driving sales is Torn, a love-gone-wrong tale which has sold a staggering million copies in the U.K. alone and is quickly climbing up the Canadian singles charts -- it's at No. 2 as of this past week.

The London-based Imbruglia, who at times sounds like the sweet-voiced Angie Hart from Aussie pop act Frente, gets some songwriting help from a number of music veterans including album producer Phil Thornally, formerly bassist for the Cure.

Besides Torn, which the 23-year-old singer recently performed on Saturday Night Live, the most effective tunes are the empowered female anthem Big Mistake, the moodier, sample-infused Leave Me Alone, the catchy singalong song of Wishing I Was There and the title track, an emotional, stripped-down ballad.

But it's Big Mistake, written by Mark Goldenberg of the Eels' Novacaine For The Soul fame, that has 'second single' written all over it -- Imbruglia sings: "And you're down on your knees, it's too late, Oh, don't come crawlin'."

Sound familiar?

Everything else is a bit of a muddle, from the wimpy ballads Smoke and Pigeons And Crumbs, to the confused wannabe rockers like Don't You Think and I'm Impressed.

Track Listing 1. Torn (4.04) 2. One more addiction (3.30) 3. Big Mistake (4.32) 4. Leave me alone (4.21) 5. Intuition (3.22) 6. Smoke (4.37) 7. Pigeons and crumbs (5.21) 8. Don't you think? (3.55) 9. Impressed (4.47) 10. Wishing you were there (3.52) 11. City (4.33) 12. Left of the Middle (3.46)		Album rating