A company from Tonbridge Wells, Kent. Discourses appears to have specialized in more esoteric recordings: spoken word, educational records, nature sounds and the like; though it did issue records of music and singing. Its output seems to have been mainly in the album format, but it made EPs for, or in association with, a number of companies which were not in the record business. A link-up with Shell (1) resulted in eight EPs - one of country sounds, seven of birdsong - in 1967, with another two birdsong records following in 1969. Numbering was in the DCL-700s. There appears to have been a leap in numbers, with the next Discourses EPs being DCL-771 and 772: they were children's stories, written by John Burningham and narrated by Eric Thompson. The first contained 'Trubloff, The Mouse Who Wanted To Play The Balalaika' and 'Harquin, The Fox Who Went Down To The Valley', while the second offered 'Humbert, Mr. Firkin And The Lord Mayor Of London' and 'Borka, The Goose With No Feathers'. The perimeter text on the labels credits publisher Jonathan Cape (2). There are no dates on the labels; the sleeves have dates on them, but these seem to be the original copyright dates of the stories and the illustrations rather than the year when the records were made. It's possible that they were from the '70s - the word 'Mono' on the labels hints that they were from a time when stereo was the norm, which would point to the '70s rather than the '60s. We're on firmer ground with DCL-773, which definitely dates from 1973. It was produced for Subbuteo Sports Games, makers of the popular table football game; it had the 'Subbuteo World Cup Song' and some crowd effects on one side, and extended crowd effects on the other. The matrix number, LYN-2774, indicates a Lyntone pressing. If there were any more Discourses 7" records googling has failed to dredge them up, though the company did act as agents for records of other unusual material, such as a 52-record set of bird songs made by Jean Claude Roché, 'Guide Sonore Des Oiseaux D'Europe' (1971). Discourses is still going today (2015). Thanks to Nicholas Hough for the second scan.
Copyright 2015 Robert Lyons.