I got the sentiment from Jeph's last update that maybe, just maybe, there's the idea that Trip-Hop is juvenile or expendable at best. This topic is to prove that notion wrong.
Here's what I think are the cream of the crop in terms of Trip-Hop records:
Nightmares on Wax - Carboot Soul (1999)
Probably the best Nightmares on Wax record (the new one is pretty good though), it's a rich mix of downtempo, with tinges of psychedelia, old soul and blues. By no means a dark and brooding disc, this is trip-hop with soul.
Zero 7 - Simple Things (2001)
Just a great record, especially the tracks with Sia Furler. This record is best known for the Garden State song "In the Waiting Line" but the real clinchers are the instrumental "Red Dust" and the otherworldly "This World". Should be a part of everyone's record collection.
UNKLE - Psyence Fiction (1998)
Really more of a DJ Shadow record than an UNKLE record (especially given the direction the band has gone since Shadow's departure from the group) this record shines except for the occasional slip up (namely the awful track with Mike D from the Beastie Boys). Definitely an album that deviates from the usual formula of calm song after calm song after calm song that's present on so many downtempo records, Psyence Fiction is just an amazing record.
That's just three off the top of my head, and not even the three most obvious I had in mind. So what trip-hop records do you consider to be good?