I'm looking for something along the lines of BTB's list for Morrowind. It's a list of mods, all compatible (some because he adjusted them to work together and provides his adjusted version) so a person who isn't really interested in sorting through the world of mods can hang a quality game on the raggedy bones Bethesda Mod Platforms (motto: we give you a good place to start) provides.

Yes, I know that there will be a strong reflex to answer with 'individual taste' and 'modding is about your choices' and such...and I've been down that road. I'm going to be reinstalling Oblivion but this isn't my first rodeo. I worked long and hard to make a quality game that I eventually played for about half as many hours as I had spent building it...after burning out vanilla in about twenty hours when it was new. This time around I'm just not willing to put in time other than playing. If someone is willing to say 'this is the recipe for the game I play, and it's a good one' I'll play their game.

"Individual taste" and "modding is about your choices"
That being said, if you want to install just one mod and one mod only, you'd be best off with OOO or Frans. But an overhaul comes to preference, some like TIE instead. Even if you settle on an overhaul, there are many other important things. A good UI mod is vital, a new leveling system is something I can't live without. I use wrye leveling, but Oblivion XP is popular, along with ngcd or realistic leveling.

Honestly modding is half the fun, searching through the nexus and reading the descriptions, unsure of what to expect.

Anyways, I found this sticky, it might help, but you'll probably think it's too big: https://sites.google.com/site/ballofflame/balloffire%27soblivionmodlist

I'm not looking for the 'one mod to rule them'...I did say list after all

I had seen that list from BallOfFire. I was put off some by the length, but more by the number of 'load early' notes...because I remember shooting numberless hours of what might have been enjoyable game playing time at the load order question, and 'early', in my opinion, needs to be 'before this and after that' when it comes to Oblivion.

Anyway...you have prompted me to be more specific about what I'm trying to do...or not do I guess.

I'm basically happy enough with how vanilla looks, so upgraded textures and such aren't what I'm looking for...in fact I seem to recall dumbing down the grass?. I'm also not trying to expand content...I think there are more than enough questlines (repetitive though they might be) in vanilla. The things you mention as 'vital' and 'can't live without' are the things I need. In my opinion, pretty much every aspect of gameplay in vanilla is hopelessly broken. I would like to replace world levelling, character levelling, user interface, magic system, economic system, and probably some others I can't put my finger on right now.

I am dredging my memory and know that I was a devoted user of Frans in my previous Oblivion experience, so that would be my starting point if I opted for doing it myself.

Well if you use BOSS it basically takes care of load order for you, no worries there. This isn't comprehensive, but here are common options:

world leveling: Frans, OOO, TIE
character leveling: Oblivion XP, ngcd, realistic leveling, wrye leveling
UI: Darn's
Magic: LAME, Supreme Magicka, Midas
Econ: Enhanced Economy

That'll get you started, though there are a couple small ones that I find to be important. Toggleable quantity prompt helps a lot, I like an alt start mod, and the unofficial patches are important. Lastly, you'll probably want a mod manager, OBMM can handle most things, though I believe Fran's requires wrye bash nowadays. Bash looks intimidating at first, but it's not bad at all, Fran's includes a wizard to make installation easy.

Some quickies:
User interface - DarnUI is the gold standard. http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10763
Magic System - LAME is my preference - it enhances the vanilla magic system without making it feel overpowering. Essentially it allows a pure mage character to be as powerful as a pure fighter. I can't find a link for it at the moment, sorry.
Economic System - Definitely Enhanced Economy. http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=25078 You might also try Trade and Commerce (the two work well together). http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=41948
Others - I highly recommend my mods (links in my signature)

EDIT: Partly ninja'd by XrRydr. Oh well.

Probably http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5434?

Anyway, you'll get the idea that Enhanced Economy is pretty much the go-to mod for economic changes. For magic, the two big choices are, as mentioned, LAME and Supreme Magicka. You can use both together if you like -- I do . And definitely use BOSS to take care of your load order. There's just no reason not to.

All compatible using Wrye Bash. All pretty near essential. Taken all together a pretty comprehensive overhaul of the game mechanics for the better. Not listed in any particular order.

DarkUI'd Darn - UI improvements
Cobl
Qarls_Harvest
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul
Mart's Monster Mod
Fundament, Bundlement, Willful Resistance (The first two are base requirements for several of Tejon's mods. Willful Resistance makes magic resistance dependent on Will Power.)
Unofficial Oblivion Patch
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch
Unofficial Official Mods Patch (dlc patches)
SM Plugin Refurbish - one for every dlc
Enhanced Economy
Display Stats
Quest Log Manager
Map Marker Overhaul
Harvest [Flora]
Auto Update Leveled Items And Spells
HUD Status Bars
Soulgem Magic
RshAlchemy
Oblivion XP - player leveling
Zusio - Zu the Skunk's Shivering Isles Overhaul
TRAP - races rebalanced
Birthsigns Expanded

An auspicious beginning! I've installed Oblivion three times before (installs, not counting the uncountable re-installs when modding it went awry). I also 'scrubbed in' when my son installed it on his machine that was specifically built in anticipation of Oblivion when it was hot off the press (the word 'disaster' sums that up nicely). I don't remember EVER seeing the installer complete and close successfully like it did tonight. First time for everything, but it was refreshing.

Good to see Fran's is still in the mix...and in fact seems to be in some sort of rare state resembling 'finished'. I remember using LAME when it was just released and thinking it looked very promising. Glad to see a consistent recommendation for 'Enhanced Economy'... I don't recall there being any sort of concensus in that area back on my last trip. I will no doubt have to put together some mod package and I appreciate the input getting me caught up...my last effort was pre-BOSS, for example...in fact wrye bash was sort of an 'alpha state on the horizon' kinda thing.

For the moment I'm intrigued with this quote I found today: "...but I will say, on a personal level, that even a heavily modded version of Oblivion can't compare with this." so I'm gonna try out Nehrim. I'll have something to play while I work on saluaging Oblivion.