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Rating: Wandering around DeBaser, I noticed something shocking, no album by G.B.H. had been reviewed. There could only be two reasons for this:
- this album reviews itself
- no one ever had the courage to write something about it for fear of not being able to describe all the infinite emotions one feels listening to it.
I am purely biased, I love GBH, there are few bands that give me goosebumps, but this band and especially this record aside from "City Baby's Revenge" is one of the few.
Usually, I am not an avid fan of any particular band, but I can't say anything about the early G.B.H., they are perfect, I feel like a middle school girl infatuated with a boy band, the music of these English punks is unique!
Even though I believe there isn't much need as everyone more or less knows this band, I'll try to give a brief overview of their history.
The G.B.H. were born in 1979 after the British punk explosion, formed in Birmingham by Colin "Col" Abrahall on vocals, Colin "Jock" Blyth on guitar, Ross Lomas on bass, and Andrew Williams on drums. The abbreviation of their name means Grievous Bodily Harm, translated into Italian as Gravi lesioni personali, but initially, the band had to modify the name by adding Charged, as another English band was already using this name. After several years, the original G.B.H. was no longer heard of, so the Charged G.B.H. renamed themselves simply G.B.H.
Throughout their history, this band has constantly changed their style, leaving a different mark with each album. Anyway, in my opinion, their best recordings are those from '81 to '86. "City Baby Attacked By Rats" is their second album released in 1982 after the '81 compilation "Leather, Bristles, No Survivors and Sick Boys...".
Well, "City Baby Attacked by Rats" is an absolute masterpiece. G.B.H. differentiates in every way from the extensive list of English punk bands of the time; the tracks of this album are not of the same mold as the classic direct and instinctive punk one got used to listening to, despite the played fury the sound incorporated by this album is "pure classy adrenaline", the guitars sound like musical electrical discharges, they play fast riffs but with a unique touch, they seem to randomly whirl chords, but everything is too precise or if it isn't so precise, it manages to give the songs some extra drive. Continuing to talk about the guitar parts, I find it sublime the way their pieces often go off-scale, rendering the track somewhat "metal-like" and sinister, enough to have influenced sacred metal monsters like Slayer. The greatest credit goes to Colin "Col," a perfect singer, both vocally and in stage presence and personality. I find his voice in perfect harmony with the music, showcasing special charisma, tackling both fast tracks and rocking pieces like "Bellend bop" naturally and spontaneously, with particular and not trivial vocal lines. Personally, I must say that Colin "Col" is a great character, both for his historic look and his perfect demeanor, correct with the audience, social, and absolutely friendly at concerts; I must emphasize that he is not a snob who poses as a prophet like a certain Wattie Buchan loves to do. In the end, of the musicians, one can only talk about the bassist, his touch, and the scales of notes he plays are not the usual transpositions of guitar chords to bass. His instrument is an important column in the band and is on the same level as the guitar, as one can hardly listen in other bands.
In "City Baby Attacked By Rats," the themes addressed are varied: attacks on English society, anarchistic, and nihilistic. The lyrics, however, are not just volleys of violent provocations, there's a vague poetic line in all this sometimes touched with a subtle ironic vein, the crude arguments take on a whole new aspect, rendering the lyrics true anthems of battle.
I wouldn't know what to choose as the standout track on this album, all have their charm. For my personal taste, having seen them live twice, I can say that I can't stay still listening to "Sick Boy" and I can't help but sing when I listen to the title track "City Baby Attacked By Rats," in the same way, tracks like "Maniac" "Time Bomb" or the "Prayer of a Realist" (My god, your god, whose god, there is no god?) are icons of U.K. punk.
After all that I've written, I don't know if I've managed to convey the idea of what this album means to me. Even though I usually recommend all sorts of things (since collecting records is a passion of mine), this time I can only say that this album is what represents perfect music for me.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Sick Boy (02:29)
I'm strapped into my bed, I've got electrodes in my head.
My nerves are really bad, it's the best time I've ever had.
I'm a sick boy and there's no cure.
I'm a sick boy there should be more.
But I'm happy the way I am, like a sardine in can.
People taking notes, people in white coats.
I see school girls everywhere, short skirts and pig-tailed hair.
But why must I suffer .. for being a gym slip lover ?
04 Slut (02:29)
I wanted you cause of your bust .
And now I want a night of lust.
Can't wait around here anymore.
So take me home you dirty whore.
Slut, slut ..
Dirty bitch
I've had too many pints of poison,
now I wanna try your pants on.
I don't care if you're really crude,
I wanna see you in the nude.
Suppose you think it's fun to. tease.
Spread around social disease
Don't care how many you have had.
Just lie down I want it bad.
You think you look pretty cute.
Black and shiny diving suit.
High heels with a nine inch spike.
Something about you I know I like.
05 Maniac (02:08)
He'll be buzzing in your head, when you're long gone.
Fever burning, stomach churning he can take you on.
Maniac, he's a maniac and he's on the loose.
A wild eyed maniac seeks you out, he wanted some revenge.
A man obsessed, a man possessed he'll get you in the end.
He can read all your thoughts so don't run for cover.
There's aftermath in his path, he's gonna maim another.
Your face will turn a ghostly white as he comes into view.
To slice you up is not enough, he must disfigure you.
06 Gunned Down (02:32)
An easy job but it went wrong, I could not understand.
But how could they stop me with this magnum in my hand ?
Just a kid now he always will be.
Gunned down gunned down.
Fell like a stone in a war of his own.
It can blow a hole in a steel door it can blow a hole in you.
It can blow the guts out of any cop, but then what would I do ?
The blood is spilt it burns my eyes a pain I cannot bear.
I'm lying in the gutter crying in despair.
So I've failed in my quest of crime my one and only vice.
Gunned down by a sniper, for trying to improve my life.
08 City Baby Attacked by Rats (02:32)
The memory lingers on when you were the same as us.
Three months old a child, still you lived off love and fuss.
City baby, city baby, city baby attacked by rats.
Residing in a squalid place, it can't be too much fun.
Your brain is getting eaten away by the rat living in your skull.
A mutant at the age of one, a human rodent cabbage.
It's hard to think a tiny thing can do that much damage.
10 Passenger on the Menu (02:47)
They shocked the world cause they wanted to live.
They had no food, no alternative.
Lost in the snow weak in the mind.
Starving and cold ate their own kind.
Had no choice, lost and alone.
Eat the flesh, spit out the bone.
Malnutrition was setting in.
They needed protein and a will to win.
Cannibalism the only way ..
the logical answer to live another day.
A code of conduct they must go by.
No sign of help coming from the sky.
How much longer can they survive ..
with only human flesh to keep them alive ?
11 Heavy Discipline (02:08)
The adrenaline flows as the shadow grows.
Footsteps clatter and my teeth chatter.
They're here again to administer.
Heavy discipline, is everyone listening ?
Heavy discipline, no one should be listening.
You'll get a gut feeling as they send you reeling.
You'll feel the heat as they knock you off your feet.
There's no escape .. from this social rape.
You've gotta pay, being young today.
So the pressure's on and the freedom's gone.
The line gets thin with all this discipline.
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By punkISdead
The fusion of two genres as powerful and energetic as punk and metal is one of the most exhilarating things to have happened in the music scene of the ’80s.
An angry punk supported by the frank and harsh voice of the great Colin Abrahall and the essential metal hints offered by guitarist Colin Blyth.
