Gas Food Lodging | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1985 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Label | Enigma | |||
Producer | Paul B. Cutler | |||
Green on Red chronology | ||||
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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]
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]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Robert Christgau | B−[12] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | B+[14] |
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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]
No. | Title | Length |
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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" |