Last night we finally got to see “The Runaways” and this morning my wife and I began discussing female rockers. Talk went (inevitably) to Suzi Quatro and from that point it was almost a foregone conclusion when my wife asked me what I wanted to listen to when we started our housework. Holly & The Italians’ great “The Right To Be Italian” was at the forefront of my mind and the leadoff track “I Wanna Go Home” was a fantastic opener and first track to hear by this excellent band.

I remember buying this album because it was part of CBS’ Developing Artist series just on the title of the album alone. I think I paid $3.99 for it and it was one of my most played albums of 1981, which says a lot. Holly Beth Vincent was always a performer I had time for. Her first album (“The Right To Be Italian”) was fantastic buzzsaw pop rock with a girl-group touch courtesy of Ellie Greenwich and producer Richard Gottehrer. The second was a completely different ornate studio album that managed to blow me away on a different level when I finally heard it years later (thanks, Tom!).