Sunday, July 17, 2011

Holly Beth Vincent - Dangerously

For most people, Holly Beth Vincent's main claim to fame is probably that she wrote the song "Tell That Girl to Shut Up" for her old band, Holly and the Italians, which was much later covered by Transvision Vamp. I didn't care much for the original (sort of a poor woman's "Rip Her to Shreds") and I have even less time for the cover version but for some reason it was a reasonably big hit so I guess I have to mention it here.

A lot of the rest of Holly Beth's stuff is quite good in an early-'80s new wave singer-songwriter sort of way. You know the type. This is her masterpiece, a contemplative and deceptively laid back-sounding piece of synth-funk with strange sporadic horn intrusions and probably her best vocal performance ever.

It appeared on the US version of her second album, from 1982, which was confusingly titled Holly and the Italians but credited to her alone.

No comments: