| The Right to Be Italian | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Holly and the Italians |
| Cover: | Holly and the Italians the right.jpg |
| Caption: | Cover photo by Lynn Goldsmith |
| Released: | February 1981 |
| Recorded: | September–December 1980 |
| Studio: | Record Plant Studios, New York City |
| Genre: | New wave, pop punk |
| Length: | 36:37 |
| Label: | Virgin |
| Producer: | Richard Gottehrer[1] |
| Chronology: | Holly Beth Vincent |
| Next Title: | Holly and the Italians |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
The Right to Be Italian is the only studio album by the new wave band Holly and the Italians.[2] The album had a troubled recording process that took more than a year to be completed; it was released in February 1981 by Virgin Records. The album was reissued in 2002 in the US by Wounded Bird Records with bonus tracks.[3]
The album peaked at No. 177 on the Billboard 200.[4]
Trouser Press called The Right to Be Italian "a new wave classic of romantic ups and downs, leather-jacket rebellion and kitsch culture, carried mightily on Vincent’s tough-girl attitude, full-throated singing, gale-force Brill Building melodies and chunky rhythm guitar presence."[5] The Rough Guide to Rock deemed the album "a lost masterpiece."[6]
All songs written by Holly Beth Vincent, except where indicated
There is a 2010 Japanese CD reissue that preserves the original track order for the tracks from the original album, but with the same bonus tracks, in the same order, as the 2002 reissue.