Is it Now is a great album closer, possibly the best, but then so is both Someone's Trying To Tell Me Something and Shipyards of NZ. I bought D&D on vinyl here in Australia on its release and not only was Sometimes the album closer, I for a long time just assumed GBH was just a B-side - albeit a very, very good one. It took quite some adjusting when I bought the CD to NOT hear Sometimes as the closing track of the album. GBH I must concede though does work as great album closer too.
For a band I always considered an "album band", who back in the days of vinyl (remember how good the Oils were on record?) had such great opening and closing tracks to the sides of their albums, I never understood the duplicity offered in D&D's closing tracks. I should add a similar thing happened with You May Not Be Released on BSM.
The theory of "shit" in GBH is an interesting one. I see how it might be considered risky and offensive to the US Bible Belt, but at the time of writing, recording, producing and sequencing the album, was mainstream success in the US really a consideration? Prior to BB being released I thought their US impact had been limited to college radio? I'm not sure anyone really predicted how successful in the US such a quixotically Australian album would turn out to be (even given everything Australian seeming to be flavour of the month in the mid '80s in the States). And even in '87, "shit" certainly wouldn't have been considered a problem in the Australian market, surely? That doesn't really explain why GBH wasn't on the Australian LP release.
Dunno. 'Tis curious.
Adrian