Life in One Chord

1987 EP by Straitjacket Fits
Life in One Chord
EP by
Straitjacket Fits
Released1987
RecordedThe Lab Studios, Auckland, April 1987
GenreAlternative Rock, Dunedin sound
Length16:12
LabelFlying Nun Records[1]
ProducerTerry Moore
Straitjacket Fits chronology
Life in One Chord
(1987)
Hail
(1988)

Life in One Chord is an EP by New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits, released in 1987.[2][3] It was the band's debut release.[4] All of the tracks from the EP were included as part of an extended version of their first full album, Hail.[5] 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.[6]

Production

The EP, produced by Terry Moore, was recorded at The Lab, in Auckland, New Zealand.[7][8]

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote that the EP "occasionally trips over its own ambition but dazzles on the wild 'Dialing a Prayer'."[9] Melody Maker called the EP "one psychotic straitlaced feline mutha of a record."[10] 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."[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Shayne Carter/Straitjacket Fits except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Dialling A Prayer"3:53
2."She Speeds"4:05
3."Sparkle That Shines" (Andrew Brough/Straitjacket Fits)3:57
4."All That That Brings"4:17

References

  1. ^ "FN080 Straitjacket Fits - Life In One Chord (1987)". Flying Nun.
  2. ^ "Straitjacket Fits | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  3. ^ "The story of Straitjacket Fits". NZ Herald. 6 October 2023.
  4. ^ Meyer, Bill (5 August 1993). "Straitjacket Fits". Chicago Reader.
  5. ^ "Straitjacket Fits To Reissue Classic Album 'Hail'". UnderTheRadarNZ.
  6. ^ "Kiwi singer performs on first solo tour". Bay of Plenty Times: B2. 14 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Straitjacket Fits part 1 - Story | AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz.
  8. ^ Carter, Shayne (1 November 2019). Dead People I Have Known. Victoria University Press. ISBN 9781776562534 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Straitjacket Fits". Trouser Press. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  10. ^ Mueller, Andrew (1 August 2013). It's Too Late to Die Young Now. Picador Australia. ISBN 9781743289235 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Steel, Gary (13 December 1998). "Anger not angst". Sunday Star-Times: F2.
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