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later in the day, after coffee, before i have to face the outside world...
first, let me say that when i read through my own post a snippiness came through that was not at all what i was feeling as i was writing it--for that, well, i dunno--email is funny and sometimes it slides away from how you actually talk even as you treat it as though it was talking. anyway, such snippiness as was conveyed was a function of the writing itself. (except maybe about captain beefheart).
second, i did blur your list in with the classic rock format--the latter i really dislike, and i do think it a non-trivial explanation for the death of the form.
btw, the guy whose brainchild format radio was is lee abrams--i think the splitting took hold in different makrets at different times--i remember it going on in boston in the early 1970s, first by the recognition that fm was a commerically viable radio band, then by the transformation of what were more free-form stations into tightly formatted ones--wbcn in particular i remember because they WOULD play captain beefheart and the byrds and country joe and the fish and "help i'm a rock" and curtis and james brown one after the other, for example. and i remember wbz fm being one of the earliest stations to use an automated playlist within a dj at more or less the same time. i dunno, however--maybe boston had the misfortune of being one of the earlier markets to test this kind of thing out. maybe it percolated gradually to other parts of the country.
i have long had a pet theory that correlated fm radio and its relatively open format during the late 60s-early 70s with the frame of reference that enabled much of the cultural work of the period to happen. so from that i drew the conclusion that the seperation of genres was a political act first--and that this political act had predictable effects--kinda like gentrification has--the bourgeoisie is drawn to the interesting, but cant deal with disorder--so it rearranges things in terms of its general aesthetic and in so doing kills what drew it there in the first place.
as for the specific comments above, in general fine....i tip my hat in your direction on most of them.
i dont understand why you think the velvets as you do-they made great pop songs in addition to making more "out" things---and turned out to be one of the most innovative bands of the period in terms of guitar sound. as for why i equated them with the knack--i just thought it strange that one was on and the other wasnt.
james brown was in his earlier phases as much a blues artist as anything else--its a mans world---and pretty much invented funk...i dunno, maybe i just dont buy the genre boundary that gets set up around him to quarantine his amazing work.
curits mayfield--well, i suggest him then. particularly his solo stuff up to and including super fly. excellent stuff--and right in between the r&b/rock division. and a great guitarist.
captain beefheart---there is more than trout mask. most of it is amazing stuff---it is good, i think, to keep in mind that there were other possibilities that arose during the period you are talking about. and his style is in close contact with elements of zappa's. so if one is there, the other should be as well, in my humble opinion.
miles in the early 1970s--the greatest rock band in the world. from bitches brew through panagea, the greatest. particularly, in this context, for the guitarists--mclaughlin at his best--much more interesting than in the mahavishnu orchestra (which is lilke nonetheless, and would also add to your list--shakti as well)--pete cosey one of the great blues players you will ever hear. just great stuff. on the corner---live evil---panagea---maybe leave that phase of miles' work off your list but load up your itunes with the tracks anyway i cant imagine that you would regret it. and if it turns out you do, yell at me on a subsequent thread about it.
i do think that steve ray vaughn is one of the most over-rated guitarists i have ever encountered...but this would require more time and i gotta go.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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