Also check out this longish thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f9/abs...l-time-253966/
I'm in a somewhat similar situation myself (about 3 years older, and I didn't really get into music until 4 or 5 years ago, with funds remaining tight until this year).
Interestingly, current mainstream R'n'B (at least as far as I get to hear it, there is one radio station here which plays such stuff) seems just as bad to me. Dead, synthetic, mass-produced. I'd prefer good '60s/'70s soul (or retro versions like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings) or folks like Michael Jackson and Prince any day of the week, by a long shot.
My discoveries in terms of older artists so far (some, in fact, through this forum):
Kate Bush (big fan now; versatile art-pop with idiosyncratic lyrics and frequently exotic sources of inspiration, not to forget the voice; for a cross-section of her career, I'd pick up
The Kick Inside, Never for Ever, The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and
Aerial - that's most of her albums, actually, but what are you to do if an artist takes a turn into a fairly different direction with almost every new one?; thankfully, even
Aerial (2005) was mastered at very "oldschool" levels, the loudest album probably is the 1997
Hound of Love remaster)
Peter Gabriel (ex-Genesis; if there is a male counterpart to Kate Bush, it's probably him (or perhaps rather vice versa), they also crossed musical paths a few times; he included what was to become "world music" influences fairly early on, but despite his artistic ambitions he also kept a pretty good handle on pop tunes; his third and fourth album, all titled "Peter Gabriel" up to this point, are both excellent and include some of the most dynamic "pop" music I know, even with the good-sounding remasters not infrequently clipping in the peaks;
So also is pretty good, as is the still quite diverse first album,
Up I don't have yet but it also gets good reviews)
David Sylvian (ex-Japan; always somewhat melancholic; you'd typically pick up
Secrets of a Beehive as a first, though I'm currently even more fond of the "ambient"
Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities, which I find to be amazingly timeless, it's from 1985 but frequently could also pass for 2005 - which is not to say that
Secrets... would fare much worse in this regard)
Laura Nyro (phenomenal soul singer-songwriter with an
interesting career; one would typically pick up
New York Tendaberry first, too bad the tone quality of the louder passages isn't too great)
Cocteau Twins (I only have the typically suggested
Treasure so far, but this kind of "ethereal pop" is still pretty unique-sounding these days and definitely worth hearing)
Pink Floyd (usually considered prog; can't say too much in general, as I only have
Wish You Were Here so far, but this one I liked instantly - sure the 1975 date shows but it doesn't
feel dated, and the early-'90s CD remaster shows good quality)
King Crimson (again, prog; I only have
In the Court of the Crimson King so far, "the record that defined prog", and again
me likes but further exploration still is necessary)
Phil Collins (ex-Genesis; in this case my recommendation would be for the debut
Face Value only, which contains some fairly brilliant experimental tracks; his later output is much more on the soft pop side of things)
Joni Mitchell (influential singer-songwriter; still quite conventional on
Blue (1971, remaster on HDCD with peak extension) but already pushing the limits of the genre on
The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) with tracks like
The Jungle Line (which I find to be a whole lot more interesting already); I still have to get her later output to see where the voyage goes, but generelly Jazz became a greater influence, and what I heard from the 1977 album
Don Juan's Reckless Daughter certainly made me curious)
And those I already knew:
Mike Oldfield (guitarist and multi-instrumentalist;
Amarok is cool and fun with cans, and the "book turned into music"
Songs of Distant Earth is a fav of mine from way back when, otherwise one should mainly stick to his '70s output I think)
Jean Michel Jarre (synth pioneer whose albums unfortunately seem to be subject to very "hot" remastering)
And finally, things I found interesting but couldn't quite get the hang of:
Jeff Buckley - Song from Jeff Buckley (genre problem, '90s rock just isn't up my alley for some reason)
Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In the Bush of Ghosts (experimental and innovative in its day, with quite a bit of influence on musicians I think, but for the most part not what I'd want to listen to all day)
Talking Heads - Remain in Light (similar to the previous disc; somehow I find this hasn't aged too well)
