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{{Infobox album | name = Life in One Chord | type = ep | artist = Straitjacket Fits | cover = Life in One Chord.jpg | released = 1987 | recorded = The Lab Studios, Auckland, April 1987 | venue = | studio = | genre = Alternative Rock, Dunedin sound | length = {{duration|m=16|s=12}} | label = Flying Nun Records<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flyingnun.co.nz/products/fn080-straitjacket-fits-life-in-one-chord-1987|title=FN080 Straitjacket Fits - Life In One Chord (1987)|website=Flying Nun}}</ref> | producer = Terry Moore | next_title = Hail | next_year = 1988 }} '''''Life in One Chord''''' is an EP by New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits, released in 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/straitjacket-fits-mn0000939875/biography|title=Straitjacket Fits &#124; Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/the-story-of-straitjacket-fits/XMWLCN2BK3ROJWJV6MBDKIAFWY/|title=The story of Straitjacket Fits|website=NZ Herald|date=6 October 2023 }}</ref> It was the band's debut release.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/straitjacket-fits/Content?oid=882517|title=Straitjacket Fits|first=Bill|last=Meyer|website=Chicago Reader|date=5 August 1993 }}</ref> All of the tracks from the EP were included as part of an extended version of their first full album, ''Hail''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/news/17395/Straitjacket-Fits-To-Reissue-Classic-Album-Hail.utr|title=Straitjacket Fits To Reissue Classic Album 'Hail'|website=UnderTheRadarNZ}}</ref> The songs are credited to Shayne Carter/Straitjacket Fits except for "Sparkle That Shines" (Andrew Brough/Straitjacket Fits). "Sparkle That Shines" was released as a single in 1989.

The EP spent 10 weeks on the New Zealand charts.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Kiwi singer performs on first solo tour |journal=Bay of Plenty Times |date=14 Dec 2017 |page=B2}}</ref>

==Production== The EP, produced by Terry Moore, was recorded at The Lab, in Auckland, New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.audioculture.co.nz/people/straitjacket-fits/stories/straitjacket-fits-part-1|title=Straitjacket Fits part 1 - Story &#124; AudioCulture|website=www.audioculture.co.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnC2DwAAQBAJ&dq=Life+in+One+Chord+straitjacket+fits&pg=PT225|title=Dead People I Have Known|first=Shayne|last=Carter|date=1 November 2019|publisher=Victoria University Press|isbn=9781776562534|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Critical reception== ''Trouser Press'' wrote that the EP "occasionally trips over its own ambition but dazzles on the wild 'Dialing a Prayer'."<ref name="TP">{{cite web |title=Straitjacket Fits |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/straitjacket-fits/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=28 February 2021}}</ref> ''Melody Maker'' called the EP "one psychotic straitlaced feline mutha of a record."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lksg8q-ioqkC&dq=Life+in+One+Chord+straitjacket+fits&pg=PT74|title=It's Too Late to Die Young Now|first=Andrew|last=Mueller|date=1 August 2013|publisher=Picador Australia|isbn=9781743289235|via=Google Books}}</ref> In a retrospective article, the ''Sunday Star-Times'' wrote: "Right from the first note of their first EP, ''Life in One Chord'' (1987), Shayne Carter made up his own world, a personalised gothic opera, with Carter playing the rebel rock star in the grand, sneering tradition of early Elvis, John Lennon and Sid Vicious."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steel |first1=Gary |title=Anger not angst |journal=Sunday Star-Times |date=13 Dec 1998 |page=F2}}</ref>

==Track listing== {{Track listing | collapsed = | headline = | extra_column = | total_length =

| all_writing = Shayne Carter/Straitjacket Fits except where noted

| title1 = Dialling A Prayer | length1 = 3:53

| title2 = She Speeds | length2 = 4:05

| title3 = Sparkle That Shines | length3 = 3:57 | note3 = Andrew Brough/Straitjacket Fits

| title4 = All That That Brings | length4 = 4:17

}}

==References== {{reflist}}

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Category:Straitjacket Fits albums Category:Dunedin Sound albums Category:1987 EPs