seeking recommendations for melodic , ear pleasing, and musical sounding LP's?

Another way to go is to invest in the "The Wonderful Sounds of..." series from Analogue Productions. They have "The Wonderful Sounds of Female Vocals," "The Wonderful Sounds of Male Vocals," The Wonderful Sounds of Christmas" and "The Wonderful Sounds of Quality Pressings." On my system, most of these cuts sound, well, wonderful. Rich, beautiful recordings of what I think of as interesting music. I'm sure you will hear many things that you enjoy. And then you can seek out the albums from which those cuts came. 

Good luck,

David

Dire Straits for sure, but also later Steely Dan releases. I'd also check out Miles Davis "Kind of Blue", Charles Mingus "Ah Um", and Return to Forever "Medieval Warrior". 

+1 on Charles Mingus “ah Um”…

Most pressings of these sound good:

Pink Floyd Meddle

Miles Davis Kind of Blue

Kansas Point of Know Return

Dire Straits second album is, to my mind, superior musically. Not yet over-complicated and overproduced, with superb attention to sound. They still sound like band.

Steely Dan's Aja sounds good, Gaucho sounds good but bright, but when they got to Two Against Nature & Everything Must Go they really accomplished both clarity and relaxed musicality. Same is true with Kamakiriad, Morph, and Sunken Condos. 

A lot of people remember Gaucho and Nightfly as playing nearly continuously as audio showstoppers. IMO, as of today, they're far inferior to the later albums, sonically.