Gas Food Lodging is the second LP by the American band Green On Red, released in 1985 by Enigma Records.

Their self-titled debut album, Green On Red, featured seven tracks of psychedelic pop, wrapped in a dark, underground undercurrent of noise, while Gas Food Lodging was the band’s strongest work of the era when their early rock roots were taking shape, as they assessed the situation as it appeared through the windshield of their truck. In fact, on CD, Gas Food Lodging sounds cleaner and fuller than its first vinyl release. If you’re looking for the best of Green On Red, then you have one of the best albums to experience the underground scene of the 80s, and that’s no small feat.

Like their friends Dream Syndicate, Green On Red used almost all psychedelic influences early on, with Gas Food Lodging finding Dan Stuart and company going back to their country-influenced rock roots, which meshed nicely with the pop themes Stuart had begun to describe in his lyrics.

Opening with “That’s What Dreams,” a hard-edged tale of a working man struggling to hold on to his dignity, Gas Food Lodging takes a long look at the sometimes fragmented state of the American psyche during the Ronald Reagan years, as seen through the eyes of a low-budget rock band out on the road.

Sure, Dan Stuart’s America is populated by drunks, lost, wanderers and psychopaths, but there’s a real measure of compassion in the portrayal of this collection of lost souls, with Chuck Prophet the 4th on guitar and our own Chris Cacavas on organ in this band’s lineup, creating evocative music and adding depth and detail to Stuart’s sordid vision.

Gas Food Lodging laid the groundwork for the music Green On Red would make in the future, but they rarely achieved their later goals as they did on this album.

There’s an emotional weight and a circle of truth to this material that’s largely absent from the band’s later work, while the album’s closing track “We Shall Overcome” can seem like a particularly obvious gesture, through a jarring honesty that shows how the band really works and moves.

From what is perhaps the best album by Green On Red, I select the song “Sixteen Ways”.
 
Tracklist

1. That’s What Dreams 4:22
2. Black River 2:43
3. Hair Of The Dog 2:31
4. This I Know 2:30
5. Fading Away 4:35
6. Easy Way Out 3:05
7. Sixteen Ways 3:43
8. The Drifter 2:32
9. Sea Of Cortez 3:51
10. We Shall Overcome 2:27
11. Gas Food Lodging 3:05