Dubreq was set up in 1967 as a film production and recording studio by Brian Jarvis and the Coleman Bothers, Burt and Ted. Jarvis invented a very basic battery-operated hand-held synthesizer called the Stylophone, which Dubreq put on the market c.1968. It proved popular, and a number of books of music arranged for the Stylophone were made available by the company, four of which were accompanied by a 7" record. Two of these, one featuring Glenn Miller tunes, the other Traditional and Christmas songs, date from 1970 - the date is on the back of one of the books. In 1972 these EPs were re-pressed by Lyntone, with a different address at the top of the label: 120-132 Cricklewood Lane, as opposed to the 249-289 Cricklewood Broadway of the 1970 issues. They were also given Lyntone matrix numbers, the black-labelled Glenn Miller EP shown being LYN-2507 and the Traditional / Christmas EP, which now sported an orange label instead of its original silver-on-blue one, LYN-2495. Catalogue numbers generally consisted of appropriate initials followed by a single digit - the Glenn Miller EP was numbered GM-1, and a yellow-labelled EP of Latin American tunes was numbered LA-3. The blue-labelled introductory EP, the scan of which Steve of the Low Down Kids site has kindly provided, is numbered DBQ-72 -1, which may combine Dubreq and the year the record was made; it too comes with the two different addresses on it and with Lyntone and Non-Lyntone pressings. The music EPs were also available as a set. There were at least two other EPs, which were associated with other Dubreq musical products: 'Wobble Along' (WB-1) featuring Rolf Harris and his 'wobble board' (5), and a companion record to the 'PianoMate', an electronic add-on for a piano (LYN-2461). The scan of the former comes by courtesy of Nicholas Hough.
Copyright 2007 Robert Lyons.