Oh man, you're gonna have a big thread here.
Since you mentioned the "really, really bad R&B these days," I'll just
mention the best R&B albums
(in no particular order) put out in the 80s and 90s, since everyone will
mention 60s and 70s stuff anyway, even if they weren't really alive at the
time :)
80s:
Quincy Jones, "The Dude"
Michael Jackson, "Thriller" (his last album as a black man)
Terence Trent D'Arby, "Introducing The Hardline According to Terence Trent
D'Arby"
Prince, "1999"
Prince, "Purple Rain"
Stevie Wonder, "Hotter Than July"
Janet Jackson, "Control"
Anything by Chaka Khan
Anything by The Time
Anything by Sade
Club Nouveau, "Love, Life and Pain"
90s:
Guy, "The Future"
Janet Jackson, "Rhythm Nation 1814"
And if you want these to be considered R&B rather than Acid-Jazz:
Erykah Badu, "Baduizm"
Maxwell, "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite"
>kevin
>(who is fond of Stevie Wonder's Talking Book and Innervisions....and still
>can't come to grips with how incredibly good Wham's "Blue: Live in China"
You're talking about that track rom the "Edge Of Heaven" album? That is
indeed my favorite Wham tune...
Elson