Gas Food Lodging (album)

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Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging (album).jpg
Studio album by
Green on Red
Released1985
Genre Rock
Label Enigma
Producer Paul B. Cutler
Green on Red chronology
Gravity Talks
(1983)		Gas Food Lodging
(1985)		No Free Lunch
(1985)

Gas Food Lodging is an album by the American band Green on Red, released in 1985. [1] [2] It was the band's only album for Enigma Records. [3] George Pelecanos references the album in his novel A Firing Offense . [4]

Contents

Recording and production

Recorded in five days, Gas Food Lodging was produced by Paul B. Cutler. [5] [6] Chuck Prophet joined the band prior to the recording sessions for the album. [7] The band incorporated a more pronounced country sound on many of the songs. [8] "We Shall Overcome" is a cover of the gospel anthem. [9] "Sixteen Ways" is about an old man who outlives his many children. [10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Robert Christgau B− [12]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [13]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [14]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Martin C. Strong 8/10 [15]

Robert Palmer, in The New York Times , wrote that, "musically it's perhaps the most distinctive and accomplished of all the recent 60's-rooted albums"; he later listed the album among the best of 1985. [16] [17] The Ottawa Citizen determined that "the roughness lends the music a measure of down-homeiness, but its stories do not reflect down-home attitudes... This is a bleak view of the American heartland." [18]

The Sunday Times called the album "clanging road music, the driven sounds of Californian boredom." [19] The Omaha World-Herald noted that "the bleak power of a record like Gas Food Lodging [is] akin to New York art bands like Television or the Velvet Underground." [9]

AllMusic concluded: "Gas Food Lodging is too loose and deliberately ramshackle to support the title of masterpiece, but calling it Green on Red's best album will do nicely." [11] Reviewing a reissue, Entertainment Weekly opined that the music could be labeled "garage Americana." [14] In 2023, Paste listed it among "The 70 Best Alt-Country Albums of All Time", opining that it incorporates elements of country music, jangle pop, and psychedelic pop. [20]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."That's What Dreams" 
2."Black River" 
3."Hair of the Dog" 
4."This I Know" 
5."Fading Away" 
6."Easy Way Out" 
7."Sixteen Ways" 
8."The Drifter" 
9."Sea of Cortez" 
10."We Shall Overcome" 

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, Robert (September 9, 1985). "Green on Red, Rock as American Folk". The New York Times. p. C17.
  2. ↑ DeLuca, Dan (July 8, 2018). "Mix Picks". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. H7.
  3. ↑ "Green on Red Biography by Denise Sullivan". AllMusic. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  4. ↑ Pelecanos, George (2011). A Firing Offense. Little, Brown.
  5. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin (November 1, 2009). "S.F.'s Chuck Prophet looks back". San Francisco Chronicle. p. Q34.
  6. 1 2 MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 507.
  7. ↑ Gilbert, Barry (May 29, 2008). "'Every song like a movie': Chuck Prophet sees his songs as cinema". Get Out. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 6.
  8. ↑ "Green on Red". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Catlin, Roger (June 2, 1985). "One of the most solid bands...". Entertainment. Omaha World-Herald.
  10. ↑ Tomashoff, Craig (September 1985). "Spins". Spin. Vol. 1, no. 5. p. 27.
  11. 1 2 "Gas Food Lodging Review by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Green on Red". Robert Christgau. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  13. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. MUZE. p. 886.
  14. 1 2 Brunner, Rob. "Gas Food Lodging/Green on Red". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  15. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography (2nd ed.). Canongate. p. 355.
  16. ↑ Palmer, Robert (June 2, 1985). "Psychedelic Rock Stages a Comeback". The New York Times. p. A23.
  17. ↑ Palmer, Robert (December 29, 1985). "The Year's Best: Rock Flexed Its Social and Political Muscles". The New York Times. p. A23.
  18. ↑ Erskine, Evelyn (April 3, 1987). "Rock". Ottawa Citizen. p. F5.
  19. ↑ Frith, Simon (July 14, 1985). "Rock". The Sunday Times.
  20. ↑ "The 70 Best Alt-Country Albums of All Time". Paste. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
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