The DS are about to collaborate with Dublin based artist John Nolan.John was responsible for the cover of "I Beg To Differ" - and the DS are about to write and record some pieces to accompany some of John's new work. Exciting, eh ?

Look - I've changed the DS Blog - got a bit bored of the other style.
I've been recording new stuff - "My Astrakhan Coat" - weighing in at just under two minutes, with more of my newly aquired guitar skills.

Review from Rhythm Online.

The Disco Students: I Beg to Differ double CD
Review by Chris Marling

Seems I get a release from this lot every other week, but they’re fun so hey ho. This time out it’s a collection of old and new, rare and not so rare releases from their somewhat low key career. Apparently inspired by the Clash and the Pistols back in 1976, they somehow managed to become a largely twee indie band with more nods to Morrissey and The Television Personalities than Sid and Strummer. But don’t let that put you off – if you have a love for the Sarah Records end of the market, these guys are top notch. For the collector, you get all the early 70s vinyl releases, ten unreleased tracks and some more recent stuff, including three new songs, as well as a song by their former band, The Haircuts. For the novice, you get introduced to a band who made the late 80s indie sound their own.

Just placed a new song on the MySpace site - "Another Mark E Smith Wannabee" - and another new creation " Ain't Never Been On No Rough Trade Compilation" will be on there in a day or so. The Disco Students have a new guitarist - his new sound is a delight.

Been quite a few bits and pieces going on in the past week. A new guitarist - already settling in - and there's been a new track just recorded . Also, looking at some live dates towards the end of the year. The new DS sounds very different. Exciting times.

we all need hobbies - slight distractions to help us through the mundane times we live in. one of mine is defacing scottish currency. aginst the law i know ( that's part of the appeal - the pure danger, the buzz of being just one step ahead of the law). whenever i come across a scottish banknote, i write " jock money - no good" on it. i've been doing this since around 1996 - and i calculate i've worked on over 100 notes since then. one of my ambitions is to come across one - to be reunited with my art. what a day that would be .....

two nights out in three - can i stand the pace? off to see the fall in bournemouth.might as well, mes and co don't venture into dorset too often.
here are the results of the latest disco students photo shoot.

Went to see Patti Smith at The Tate Modern, where she gave a a poetry/song performance to support the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Alison Jacques Gallery. All very NYC arty - a couple of films, one , "Still Moving" a RM/PS collaboration from the mid 1970's - then Patti got on stage for some anecdotes,poems and songs. A bit under rehearsed and scatty - but most enjoyable.

John (Le Mesurier)

It's the little things that let you down,
Like, refusing to wear a dressing gown,
Pushing a child from a life boat,
"It's every man for himself"

I, like you, will spoil my voting paper,
I write " none of the above are fit to lace my shoes"
"They could not fill my boots"
Look at their Burton's suits, they think it's funny.

It's the little things that let you down ( son),
Being lower middle class,
Can sometimes be a pain in the arse.
I struggle with all the cutlery,
I lost my kit after P.E.

It's the little things that let you down,
I washed my hands in my posh girlfriend's sink,
God only knows what her mother thinks,
They think their shit don't stink (son).

An American writes :( from the Fall forum).

Re: The Disco Students

I still think the MES song lyrics are tasteless, but fortunately you can't make many of them out at least til the end of the song.

GOOD THING ALERT:

the guitar work on The Disco Students MySpace songs is really nice. On the MES song and the others. The other instruments are sort of just there, but the guitar work is consistently captivating. Not a fan of those chousey tones, but it doesn't matter because the playing shines thru fine. Good work, Simon, especially if you are the guitar player.

ANOTHER GOOD THING ALERT:

I am beginning to get the idea that Morrissey did sort of steal all your ideas, at least in a figurative, if not literal, sense. Correction: I think it was Bobby Bluebell who stole your idea of how to sing, but otherwise, yeah, I can kinda see it given Sugarside and your history and black sense of humor. This plausibility, true or not, makes the song kind of cool and unique, a bit like Jonathan Richman singing about the Velvet Underground, but in reverse.

"Kitchen Sink Disco" -a track from the Black Girlfriend E.P. is included on a podcast put together by one of the members of the unofficial Fall forum.

Totally Radio have been playing some tracks from the new release.

In my youth, I used to carry a torch for Selina Scott. Tall, lean, bright - probably went like the clappers - just the kind of girl I was looking for.
I happened to chance upon a TV programme on Channel 5 tonight - where Selina spent three quarters of an hour pouring scorn on modern TV, pop culture - almost everything created after around 1963. She's still a bit of a looker - but there's no doubt in my mind, she's bonkers. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

Review from Play Louder.

The Disco Students - 'I Beg To Differ'
yeah!yeah!yeah! Records

The Disco Students come from that era when you could get away with calling your band something like The Disco Students without the pseudo proletarian hordes of the music press getting sniffy. Yet the Aylesbury chaps were a band aptly named, combining arch, fizzing guitars with pummelling, anxious post-punk straitjacket-soul beats, elegant, intelligent lyricism and song titles like 'Kafkaesque' and 'A Boy With A Penchant For Open Neck Shirts'. That's me, that is! This retrospective of the band's twenty-eight year career sees the tense 'Pink Triangles', the light pop of 'Sugarside', the subtle synths of 'But' that give it a slightly goth edge and the dark romance of 'Red Flowers' that make up Disco Students early - and best -material. For anyone who's never got down for a book and a boogie with these chaps, this compilation comes highly recommended.
Review by Luke Turner. 26.8.06.

What Rough Trade say:
I Beg To Differ.
a double cd retrospective from the aylesbury based art rockers - featuring all the material from the singles since they reformed and also the tracks from the late 70's and early 80's - also features the classic "do you remember longwick'" by the haircuts - simon cheetham's first band - a standout track from the legendary "aylesbury goes flaccid" compilation album from 1978.

Review from REPEAT.

The Disco Students : I Beg to Differ (www.myspace.com/2006discostudents) Here’s some more nostalgia, but this time with a happy and still partly unwritten ending. The Disco Students were formed in 1978, and gloried in being freed from the shackles of prog rock and all that appalling nonsense. They traveled the country to plug into the national grid to rattle out short, sharp sets of angular, riffy, liberated punky stuff which this retrospectve shows to be still exciting and uplifting today. No wonder then that the band have reformed and have added some new tracks onto this 2 CD set which looks both forwards and backwards.

I had quite a surprise last night. I'd been out into the town of Bridport - sampling strong drink etc - and returned to find a Moog synthesiser in the house. One of the three Sues ( I've yet to discover which one )- has obviously got it from somewhere. Makes me think that some new recording is being planned.

I missed the BBC2 John Betjeman show the other night - I was out and about celebrating a wedding anniversary. Yeah, mine. Well - not just mine.
So, pleased to see it was repeated tonight. Watched it with glass of wine and loved it.
So many things I like. The rugged sea - JB loved Cornwall, I'm a Dorset man myself. Loved his unpretensiousness ( i haven't got my dictionary to hand so that may be spelt wrongly : but hey, we're all artists) - his nice streak of melancholy, eccentricity, englishness. All very good. I recall I had the opportunity to study him whilst at school - but, because I was who I was then , declined - and spent the time , generally wasting time. Well, that's what you do when you're a spotty self obsessed punk rocker. Also, the show was presented by Rick Stein - who I like, and with him Chalky, the Jack Russell.
I realise I'm drifting off into middle England dinner party territory here - but I too, am the "master" of a Jack Russell - so there were a number of common threads.
I will watch the remaining programmes with interest.

Been busy this week with the release of "IBTD" - making sure review copies are going out etc.
I am planning a couple of live dates around Christmas - it will be a new look DS - playing four or five songs from the new CD, plus a few brand new songs which are currently in production.
I'm excited about it - the previous run of live dates didn't really do it for me.
There's also a possibility of an interesting collaboration with another artist - but nothing certain yet.
One of the new songs includes a reference to Garry Bushell.

"I Beg To Differ" has been released into the community. A life's work (?)
And on we go - that was then - we move on to the next 26 years .....