THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
972) Paper Blitz Tissue — “Boy Meets Girl”
The ’67 A-side of PBT’s only 45 is “a thrillingly visceral slab of British studio psychedelia” (David Wells, liner notes to the Real Life Permanent Dream: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970 CD comp), “a near-gem of a psychedelic track with fluttering and squealing guitars, crunching Who-influenced percussion, a melody that was both ominous and tuneful, and a thunderous production that made the band sound rather as if they were crashing around in a large glass tunnel” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-paper-blitz-tissue-mn0001387475) with a “great psychedelic intro, some fine guitar work and vocals which are ideally suited to this type of music.” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)
‘And it was composed by Rob Granier, the famed British TV/movie/theater composer who wrote the themes for the super-cool TV shows Dr. Who, Steptoe and Son (later transformed into Redd Foxx’s Sanford and Son in the U.S.), Danger Man, The Prisoner, and the super-cool Charlton Heston flick The Omega Man!
David Wells notes that the PBT were “[r]egulars on the London psychedelic underground scene during the second half of 1967 . . . play[ing] such venues as Middle Earth, the Electric Garden and UFO as well as appearing at the semi-legendary Kensington Olympia happening Christmas on Earth Continued. . . . [but] disappear[ing] as suddenly as they arrived”. (liner notes to the Real Life Permanent Dream: A Cornucopia of British Psychedelia 1965-1970 CD comp)
Chocolate Soup for Diabetics adds:
[They] were at the heart of London’s 60s underground, playing at all the leading venues and acclaimed in their day as one of the UK’s first psychedelic bands. Drummer Dave Dufort had played in the Scenery alongside Ian Hunter (soon to form Mott The Hoople) . . . . [and had been] in the Voice [see #176] . . . . The apogee came . . . with three momentous events in December 1967. Firstly, their 45 . . . was released. Secondly, they appeared in a BBC TV play entitled Death of a Private, screened on December 13 [my 5th birthday!] and telling the melancholy tale of a soldier whose wife leaves him for a rock singer. The quartet played numerous Grainer-penned songs in the film, as The Majors, but . . . no copies survive. Finally, they shared a stage with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Tomorrow and others at Christmas On Earth Continued at Kensington Olympia on the 22nd.
liner notes to the Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: Volumes 1-5 CD comp
As to Ron Grainer, the Mfiles tells us that:
Ron Grainer was born in Australia . . . . He . . . studied music at the Sydney Conservatory, until World War II where he suffered a severe leg injury in an accident. After the war he completed his musical studies concentrating on composition. Ron and his wife moved to England in 1952 where he found work initially as a pianist and accompanist for light entertainment shows . . . . In 1960 [he] was commissioned to compose the theme and incidental music for a new detective series called “Maigret”. The theme was a major hit . . . . Over the next few years, Grainer was to write for a number of television productions . . . . He wrote the themes for “Comedy Playhouse”, “Steptoe and Son”, “That Was the Week That Was” and “Doctor Who”. There was something about his themes which audiences related to: “Maigret” . . . g[a]ve the detective a Gallic feel, and “Old Ned” (the Steptoe theme) easily captured the scrap merchants’ horse trundling along the streets, while the jazzy theme song for “That Was the Week That Was” . . . seemed to mirror the show’s lively mix of current affairs and comedy. . . . For Doctor Who Grainer wrote the theme as a piano instrumental which was then given to Delia Derbyshire at the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. When Grainer heard the resulting music created by splicing together tones and effects on magnetic tape, he famously remarked “Did I write that?”. . . . Grainer was also getting his first commissions for film scores. The films . . . were rarely in the major league . . . but his film music is highly regarded. . . . [H]e scored “Hoffman” starring Peter Sellers, and the minor cult movie “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston. By this time Grainer had moved to Portugal with his second wife Jennifer. . . . [but] continued . . . scoring more films, writing music for theatre and further television programmes. Many of those TV series developed a cult following (e.g. “Man in a Suitcase”, “The Prisoner”, “Paul Temple”, and “Tales of the Unexpected”) . . . . Grainer suffered from a number of health problems in addition to his leg injury . . . . [and h]is eyesight started to fail in later years, and he died . . . at the age of 58.
https://www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/Ron-Grainer.htm
Here is Ron Granier’s original instrumental:
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