GBH Discography - No need to panic

No need to panic

Transylvanian Perfume
Hearing Screams (For The Last Time)
To Understand / Makin' Whips / I Shot The Marshall
Electricity In Space / Hit The Deck / Rumblin' Underground
Desperate Times / Gunning For The President
Avenues And Avenues / Unanswered Prayers

Do Punk bands make concept albums ? Well actually I am not sure but this album cetainly surprised me with its in-between song fill-ins, ranging from the personal favourite historical radio clips which envelop 'Electricty through space' to the ahem .. 'toilet 'humour which precedes 'Desperate times' ! 'No need to panic' was perhaps the last of the 'purely Punk' sounding albums to be made by GBH. Well that's my opinion anyway, I know that Colin disagrees ! If you are really lucky and can get hold of one, the later CD release of this album includes the Oh No It's GBH again and Wot A Bargain EPs.

Transylvanian perfume

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Everywhere I go, everyone I see,
knows the secret languishing down inside of me.
A change of scene could be the key,
go to the cupboard, take out the bottle and splash it all over me.

But it's Transylvanian Perfume swirling round,
release the beast that hides behind your brow.
Transylvanian Perfume drink it in,
it's the musk of lust as it'll take you up where you've never ever been.

It's duty free,
it's real scary.
It's a magnet glue,
it's the stuff for you .. this stuff is tough !

Ply 'em with a drink to get 'em hooked,
I'm an evil essence, no odour clone, I can't be overlooked.
Watch 'em for a while I gotta' choose,
the night is young, the moon is bright an' I got my blue suede shoes.

Hearing screams (for the last time)

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

You were twenty five when you split the scene,
why did you have to go away ?
Prospects were good, you had money to burn,
but you had the curse of the 'J'.

Now the skulls they're piling up,
and it's sure bad evidence.
Just use your head when you're getting wrecked,
and do it with elegance.

You're hearing screams,
you're hearing screams,
living dreams for the last time.

A lizard man with an arctic soul,
and a skin of leather hide.
Drank himself into the ground,
rotted from the inside.

Now Johnny B he was real good,
sounded like a thunder clap.
Lived too fast died too young,
just another in that trap.

You're dancing to the death,
you're dancing to the death.
Taking your last breath,
dancing to the death.

Too understand

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

I've been guilty too, I ain't so pure,
you get a little bit, you just want more.
Go on destroying what little we got,
two steps forward three steps back.
In this crazy world you get no chances,
no-one bothers with the new dances.
Gotta get on with the pain of living,
don't look for handouts there's none been given.

It's easier to hate than to understand,
it's easier to hate than to understand.
A clenched fist or an open hand,
it's easier to hate than to understand.

Confusion reigns in vicious circles,
too much violence too many hurdles.
Peace of mind isn't much to ask for,
hangs in the air like burnin' sulphur.
There's carrots dangling everwhere,
the price you pay for a livin' nightmare.
The stench of death in every nation,
decay, disillusion and desperation.

.. sanity's just a state of mind

Makin' whips

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

You're getting under my skin,
the places that you've been.
You're dishing out the dirt,
and sure know how to hurt.

But you're going nowhere ya missing the whole damn point,
lighten up, lighten up and we'll rip the joint.

You're makin' whips, makin whips for your own back,
makin' whips, makin' whips you're gonna' crack,
makin' whips, makin whips.

Your empty headed dreams,
just like an old smoke screen.
You stand behind your spite,
don't know what's wrong or right.

Now it's grating on my nerves,
your twisting body swerves.
Got a self-inflicted bruise,
got rubber bumper blues.

Remove the thorns from your crown,
feel it when the whip comes down.

I shot the Marshall

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Feel depressed, walking home,
could have used a megaphone.
Inanimate objects getting me down,
mechanical failures all around.

I shot the Marshall,
in self-defence.
I shot the Marshall,
got no regrets.
It shouldn't look at me that way,
yeah, killed that amp.

Only works when I'm close to it,
walk away it'll have a fit.
Hand pocket, pull out a fiver,
pay the guy with a screwdriver.

But it did it once too often,
put that amp in a coffin.
Got my Walther P.P.K,
"Go ahead amp make my day".
The judge was fair on my case,
Said "Go home boy get back to base".
"Don't smash things up just be cool ..
learn electronics at night school".

Electricity through space

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Sittin' in my darkened room, got nothing else to do.
Tune into my radio, but there's nothing coming through.
Luxemburg has lost the call, Brussels is nowhere.
Moscow's just a crackle now, I guess they're not on air.

All my life I've been listening,
now I wanna' shout.
Electricity through space,
Electricity through space.
Electricity through space,
.. saving grace of the human race.

My speakers need some maintenance, the wires are all messed up,
but my operating manual says "Give it back to us".
I turn it up to maximum, still my ears don't bleed,
it can't put out the power with no signal to receive.

It's a vital source of communication, exploit it to the full.
Compared with foreign counterparts, I find it rather dull.
It's not for the minorities, the heads will never sway.
The only decent radio is in the U.S.A.

Hit the deck

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Cruising down the highway,
Indianapolis bound.
The sun is out, shades are on,
but the gig still can't be found.
As we gaze out of the window,
see fields and barns float up.
A psycho in a beat up Chevy,
got us in his evil eye.

Hit the deck, hit the deck.
The gun I fear, not the redneck.

He tried to run us off the road,
'cos we broke his law.
It's hard to say what gun he had,
I was lying on the floor.
Terror reigned, no need to panic,
Whizz Pig's at the wheel !
Stops the van in front of him,
goes and strikes a deal.

.. I'm just a poor boy, a long way from home.
Don't wanna' die here, I'm all alone.
If I ever get out of this place, get out of this jam.
Go home and die on the sanctuary of Birmingham.

This crazy with a baseball cap,
has been working in a foreign land.
Learned to live in the jungle,
learned to kill with his bare hands.
Bringing his skills back to civilisation,
running to the police.
Mister I abhor your kind ..
an' I ain't no goddam freak !

Rumblin' underground

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Broken glass is everywhere, crunchin' underfoot,
the windswept streets preparing for the flood.
A priest with a bible is doing all the plugs,
jobs now are seconary to sex and drugs.

Honesty is our only weapon,
walls come tumbling down.
There's a panic in the West,
and there's a rumblin' underground.

Sniff the air it only brings a stench of the Neu Smell.
Faceless icebergs burnin' down in Hell.
"Don't worry son you know you'll go far",
Daddy's gonna' buy you a brand spanking new guitar.

Sometimes I think the whole world's against me,
somethimes I think I'm gonna' win.
In the depths of the quagmire,
the only thing is never to give in.

Subterranean vibrations as the masses start to rise.
Pseudo zombies can't believe their eyes.
Light a fire in our hearts, things begin to boil,
energy comes draining down, soaking through the soil.

Desperate times

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

If you've a hollow life you cling to what you got,
and if nothing's blooming you gotta stop the rot.
When the world is black, cloaked in despair,
don't head down come up for air.

The world is falling apart in these desperate times,
no compassion in my heart in these desperate times.
The world is falling apart,
no compassion in my heart .. in these desperate times.

If there's another world locked inside your dreams,
don't use a pillow to smother all the screams.
Just cry out in the night,
come out of the shadows and you'll see the light.

From the cradle through to the grave,
no-one is saying we've all gotta' be brave.
When the feeling's gone,
rev it up a little with an atom bomb.

Gunning for the president

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Heard him on the radio, seen him on tv,
watched his movies he didn't impress me.
He's in the Whitehouse, i'm in the doledrums,
someone's gotta get him, before his time comes.

I'm no waster, my times well spent,
gunning for the president.
I'm on a mission, gone hell bent,
gunning for the president.

As president of the United States,
he's got some trouble, with his enlarged prostate.
Disease up the nose, disease up the ass,
he knows the secret, Irangate cash.

I'm the one guy,
who just couldn't take it anymore.
I've seen more class, in a two bit whore.
Made your name in the world of let's pretend,
and if its up to you, "dann ist der arson ab".

Clint's on the trail now, a man with no name,
his morals are high, but the results the same.
Forget the gun laws, elect a mad man,
president Eastwood, the first lady magnum.

Avenues & alleyways

Original Words & Music: Mitch Murray, Peter Callender

Sleep like a baby,
my little lady.
Dream 'till the sunrise, creeps into your eyes,
dream 'till the sunrise turns on the day.

In the avenues and alleyways,
while you sleep there's a whole world coming alive.
Abel and his brother, fighting one another,
in and out of every dive.

.. The avenues and alleyways ..

Where the strong and the quick alone can survive,
look around the jungle, see the rough and tumble,
listen to a squealer cry.
Then a little later, in the morning paper,
read about the way he died.

Wake up my pretty,
go to the city.
Stay through the daytime, safe in the sunshine,
stay 'till the daytime turns into night.

.. The avenues and alleyways ..

Where a man's gotta' workout which side he's on.
Anyway he chooses, chances are he loses,
no-one get's to live too long.

The avenues and alleyways ..

Where the soul of a man is easy to buy,
everybody wheelin', everbody dealin',
all of the low are living a high.
Every city's got 'em, can we ever stop 'em ?
Some of us .. .. are gonna' try.

Unanswered prayers

Words & Music: Abrahall, Blyth, Lomas, Reder

Well they paid him the advance,
and waited for the book.
But the writer didn't care none,
no he didn't give a F. F. F. F.
Fortune squandered,
he's drugged up bad.
They called him insane,
the called him a fag.

Somewhere in the city,
unanswered prayers.
Somewhere in the city,
one man, one man dared.

He's got 'em searching the attic,
and tearing down walls.
Emptying cupboards,
and ripping up floors.
I know it's here,
a secret told.
I'll tell ya it's true man,
it's literate gold.

Slurring speech,
in interviews.
Looking a little fat.
Bloodshot eyes,
don't forget the hat.
I know it's here,
a secret told.
I tell ya' it's true man,
only he knows,
only he knows,
only he knows where to bulldoze.