THE BATTALION
Page 4 College Station, Texas Wednesday, February 21, 1973
Resonance by Steve Grayson
Mick dagger says the Rolling
Stones’ new album was influenc
ed by “local reggae.” Traffic’s
latest album was recorded in Ja
maica. The Doobie Brothers sing
about how they “got to get back
to Jamaica” on the “Toulouse
Street” album and Johnny Riv
ers’ new album is “L.A. Reggae.”
Kingston, Jamaica, is the home
and birthplace of reggae, a mix
ture of voodoo, jazz and jungle
bongos set to an ever-changing
quick tempo. The term was first
used in the mid-fifties to describe
a curious type of music unique to
Kingston’s bars and clubs.
The Jamaicans had been Amer
ican jazz fans and when rock-and-
roll took over the record industry,
they began to produce their own
stuff. Reggae was the result.
It is simply produced, as only
guitars, bongos and a few reed
instruments were available to the
Jamaicans. However, the rhythms
it involves are so difficult to pro
duce that even today, if one wants
reggae musicians, one goes to
Jamaica.
Reggae can be obvious, as on
Simon and Garfunkles’ “Cecelia”
(yep, that’s what you call that
stuff) or as unassuming as the
accordian and moog parts on
Johnny Nash’s “I Can Sec Clear
ly Now.”
Reggae got its start in the out
side world when homesick black
Jamaican workers got together in
the seacoast towns of England. It
was improved with the incorpo
ration of non-Jamaican interpre
tation and gradually began to sur
face as a distinct music style.
Perhaps the first reggae artist
With a hit single was Millie
Small, whose “My Boy Lollipop”
made the charts in 1964. But by
no means did this signal any sort
of reggae fad. Desmon Dekker
had “Israelites” in ’65 and Nash’s
“Hold Me Tight” came out in
’67, but, largely, reggae was put
down in Britain as primitive mu
sic unacceptable to civilized peo
ple.
Indeed, its acceptance proceed
ed with glacieral speed. Bob Dy
lan said it was “ok” in ’71 and
since then Roberta Flack, Aretha
Franklin and Paul Simon, besides
the Stones, Nash and Traffic, have
all recorded in Jamaica using at
least a few local musicians.
Now reggae is a common noun
adjective ax-ound music circles,
but through the years, its boun
daries lost their distinctness. Even
though Johnny River’s new album
is entitled “L.A. Reggae,” he
says, “The only relationship be
tween what we play and reggae
is that it’s basically very simple
music, straight ahead rock-and-
roll.” Even the king himself, Mr.
Nash, exclaims, “I would like
for them to explain . . . what it
really is.”
Whatever reggae does or
doesn’t refer to, its influence is
growing. Besides, even if there
was no such thing, the recording
industry can always use another
word to describe some new piece
of music that really isn’t new.
Environmental Troubleshooter
To Evaluate Pollution Device
A&M’s Environmental Trouble
shooters Team will soon swing in
to action as it helps evaluate a
pollution control device for auto
mobiles.
The device, called the PASER
(Power Amplification by Stimu
lated Emission of Radiation) 500,
is being manufactured by Ameri-
mex Industries, Inc., of Dallas.
Eugene Irvin Jr., president of
the corporation, said the device
was not the complete solution to
pollution problems caused by au
tomobiles, but that it did reduce
hydrocarbon and carbon mono
xide emissions while increasing
gas mileage by about 10 per cent.
Dr. J. Martin Hughes, assist
ant professor of Environmental
Engineering, said the device
would be evaluated to see just
how good it really is.
“We plan to evaluate tests of
the device in actual automobile
installations and in laboratory
conditions,” he said. “We are in
no way endorsing the device. We
are merely going to make impar
tial evaluations for the company
to see what the device will do.”
The device, according to Irvin,
achieves a high induced voltage
which causes an electrical dis
charge in the combustion cham
ber of an automobile engine, lead
ing to more complete combustion
of gasoline vapor and lower ex
haust emissions.
“The PASER 500,” he said,
“uses electromagnetic energy
from the ignition system of the
engine, energy that is normally
wasted, in such a way that it
leads to more ideal conditions for
combustion in the combustion
chamber.”
An earlier version of the de
vice was tested by General Test
ing Laboratories, Inc., and it was
found that reductions in hydro
carbons and carbon monoxide were
achieved by the device with an in
crease in fuel economy.
The company wants to improve
the PASER 500, and has ap
proached Hughes and his team for
recommendations.
Read Battalion Classifieds
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