Fusion has its place and some of Stanley Clarke's bass playing (not the slapping orgies) can trigger emotions with me. Why anyone should not be able to post here advocating his love for fusion is beyond me. I bought the new Vooten, Clarke, Miller triple bass CD (haven't listened to it yet) just out of curiosity. I'm sure it will contain widdly-widdly stuff, but there will also be moments that make me listen up and maybe I'll even swipe a lick or two!
I can't listen to fusion hours on end, but I can't listen to The Ramones hours on end either. The "too free form" criticism is largely unwarranted, unless we're talking Bitches Brew. If anything, most seventies fusion (Weather Report, Return to Forever), especially with the funk factor, was rather rigid in its arrangements and hardly improvisational at all. Very disciplined and concentrated music. Much of Zappa's music was fusion and except for the master's guitar solos there was zilch improvisation. To say it is not played with emotion, is a clichee. Jeff Beck has been more a fusion than a rock guitarist for three decades now, is his playing unemotional?
Uwe