little known musicians we should hear

Paul Weller's solo albums (since 1990).
I like a lot of Jam songs and some Style council, but his solo albums are really far and away his best material. Poignant lyrics, great melodies, and good musicianship.
He's well known (revered) in the UK, but doesn't seem to have crossed the Atlantic.

Meat Beat Manifesto-dark and electric.
The Gentle People-romance in a spacey 60's.
Scott Walker-Sinatra gone insane.
Elysian Fields-Sexy,bluesy with a touch of angst.
Spirit-These guys were so good, you'd have thought they were
English.Great 60's rock
Gong, Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson(pre-90's)-
shake hands with progressive rock.
Billbored? Never heard of it.

i'll continue my list with increadible and innovative jazz musicians that have already decades of performances but only on small and private surroundings:

phillip johnston,
matia bazar,
evan parker,
hugh hopper,
wayne horvitz,
torsten de winkel,
ravi coltrane,
sasi shalom,
sergey kuriokhin,
vladimir chekassin,
aleksander ganelin,
aleksey kozlov,
igor butman.

this is great! you all are mentioning stuff I have never heard (cul de sac, harry menk, Polyphonic Spree, Imperial Teen, Solution) stuff i've almost bought 100 times (like scott walker and Neko Case), stuff I forgot about and now can't wait to hear again (like 10 song demo and bloomed).

thanks to all and please keep 'em coming. don't hesitate to add more as they spring to mind. this'll end up being a killer (and dangerous) list to carry to the record store, hunt online with etc.

i'll be the first with additions:
kim richie
david blue's lp w/'i'll be true to you" on it
the silos
marc benno (with and w/out leon russell)
mcdonald and giles lp
garmana's "vengeance" (filed under nordic)
all fred neil (some has been newly pressed on vinyl)
the groove collective's s.t. first cd

From the top of my head: Graham Parker, his earlier work, The Blasters.