Zappa Recommendations ?

@edgewear:

I recently watched a documentary about FZ where he said something to the effect that, in his view, "the absurd" was the primary reality. 

No doubt, this was a major factor that determined the flavor of the vocals he felt were "necessary" to provide to meet the dermands of "Pop culture" (if that phrase isn't an oxymoron, I don't know what is). 

I suppose this could be viewed as something somewhat akin to Dadist art. My BA is in studio art so I've been exposed to many styles but although I can appreciate what the Dada artists were doing, the work itself doesn't appeal to me, aesthetically and this is the exactly the issue I encounter with the vocals in Zappa's music.  Although I share many of his opinions regarding the aspects of american culture he delights in poking fun at, I don't as a rule enjoy satire as a fundamental focus of music. The best adjective I can think of to describe how the vocals in Zappa's music sound to me is "cartoonish", which is not a quality that I find esthetically appealing.  In other words, I'm unable to regard the human voice "as just another instrument" where Zappa's music is concerned. 

When listening to music with vocals, I want to be able to idenitify or at least empathize with the story the singer is telling and with Zappa's music, this cartoonish quality has the effect of constantly undermining any such identification, which, to be honest, I find pretty frustrating.  

That's an interesting question, tvad. I've never thought about that! 
I suspect I somehow manage to ignore that aspect to some degree. 
In any event, Fagan's delivery is still that of a "conventional" singer, delivering a "conventional" narrative. I don't perceive the aspect I referred to as "cartoonlsh" as present in the music of Becker and Fagan. 

I'd never heard "Cousin Dupree" so I just listened to it. In this case, the lyrics are simply so blatantly sleazy that I don't see how the meaning could possibly be misconstrued. 

My greatest issue with Steely Dan is the slickness of the music, beginning with Aja. Last night, I watched one of that series on the making of Classic albums that focused on Aja and it was illuminating to hear Fagan and Becker talk about, for example, their loser would-be hipster protagonist in "Deacon Blues". When they talked about this character, I felt much more able to relate to him, than when I listen to the song, itself. There's something about the degree to which the music has been fastidiously groomed that I find offputting or alienating. I much prefer the CTE, PL and KL albums. 

And this is not because I don't like Jazz!  I listen to more Jazz (50's to present) than anything else. Because of this and the fact that I've played guitar for many decades, I can really appreciate the high level of S. Dan's musicianship. But the Jazz elements in their recordings beginning with Aja sound very cheesy/lounge-y to me. They may be hip but they are so highly polished that they fail to engage me, emotionally. I dislike most prog and a lot of Fusion for the same reason. I'm afraid I'm rather myopic in this regard-- music that doesn't engage me emotionally doesn't interest me, period. 

When it comes to S. Dan, the recordings I like, I really like and I listen to them regularly. 

When it comes to explaining my musical preferences, it's really just guess-work. I can come up with reasons why I think I may prefer X yo Z, but I suspect a lot of this stuff really has very little to do with rationality. . . 

Hot Rats which is a terrific intro to Zappa’s world