Oooo…Yes!!!
Hump Day… hmmmm… and you say you’re painting, eh… I’m gonna suggest you listen to Danzig’s eponymous first album today. It’s a good bit of energy; it totally fucking rocks. The songs are catchy as hell and Rick Rubin’s inspired stripped-down aesthetic helps the material quite a bit. AFAIC it’s a classic album, one of my favorites from the 1980s.
Marquee Moon - Where have you been all my life? As mentioned, this has been in the back of my mind for decades, thanks poking me with a stick, Bo. This will get played again.
Louis Jordan is up next. I know a couple of the songs on the Greatest Hits album (Five Guys Named Moe & What’s the Use of Getting Sober) from a Joe Jackson albums that I love.
If you haven’t heard it, I recommend it:
I just listened to A Salty Dog by Procol Haram, great sound to it.
The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
The second disc of Bob Dylan Live 1966, the Royal Albert Hall concert. Second disc is the electric half of the show.
“…Judas…!”
"I don’t BELIEVE you…
You’re a LIAR…
…play FUCKING LOUD!"
Any Grateful Dead bootlegs from 1977, when they were enjoying lots of cocaine.
The May 8 show at Barton Hall, Cornell University, is especially revered. It can be found all over the Internets.
Seems like many specific albums have been listed. So I will try to be more broad and list my favorite artists for you to choose from. I hope this helps you.
I recently discovered two artists that are new to me. They are Bruno Mars and AVICII. I sense many people booing at me because these are both extremely young men that play pop music. It’s kind of like the way I would roll my eyes when I was 16 and some adult would tell me they liked The Beatles. I would think, “What the heck is an old timer like you doing listening to Beatles music?”
But both these artists produce some really fine music. It is extremely melodic and the way they mix it and the way the instruments sound is (IMHO) really beautiful. They are both very “catchy”. They will stick in your mind and you will find yourself humming along with their songs - even when there is no music playing.
For female singers, I think that Linda Ronstadt, Sarah McLauchlan & Sheryl Crow are all amazing talents and among them, they offer all kinds of wonderful beautiful music that you might enjoy.
As for which albums I’d recommend, there is a site called “Best Ever Albums” and if you Google:
“Sheryl Crow rank albums”
You will see a link to that site (as well as several other sites) and they rank all the albums the artist has recorded in order of best to worst (at least in their opinion). Most of these sites are pretty consistent. So it’s hard to go wrong.
The following list contains my all time favorite artists. I hope it will give you some talent to choose from. As you will see, this list is very varied.
ACDC
AVICII
BASSHUNTER (for people who like good strong bass)
BEATLES
BILLY JOEL
BLUES BROTHERS
BOB MARLEY
BRUNO MARS
BYRDS
CCR
DOORS
DYLAN
EAGLES
ELTON JOHN
FACES (ROD STEWART)
FLEETWOOD MAC
FOUR SEASONS
FOUR TOPS
GEORGE HARRISON
JACKSON BROWN
JAMES TAYLOR
JANIS JOPLIN
JOHN LENNON
KINKS
LED ZEPPELIN
LEONARD COHEN
LINDA RONSTADT
MAMAS & PAPAS
MEN AT WORK
MOTT THE HOOPLE
NEIL YOUNG
POCO
PULP
SHERYL CROW
SIMPLY RED
ROLLING STONES
SUPERTRAMP
SUPREMES
TALKING HEADS
TEMPTATIONS
TOM RUSH
TOTO
TRAVELING WILBURYS
VAN MORRISON
WILLIE NELSON
My Thursday pick for you, MMM, is Minutemen’s classic Double Nickels On The Dime.
Yay! And Wordman, you have good taste!
I’ll put my Friday suggestion in early.
You’re gonna want something upbeat and rocking and fun and crazy and catchy to get you thru this last workday and ready for the weekend (where hopefully there will be no more painting), so I’m gonna recommend Chips from the Chocolate Fireball by The Dukes of Stratosphear.
Why yes, yes I do. 
If you like Louis Jordan, have you gotten T-Bone Walker’s Complete Imperial Recordings? Just brilliant; there is a lifetime of great guitar in there.
Too late to edit:
A couple of ideas:
I’ll suggest an immersive experience: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless. Like Marquee Moon (another MM for MMM!), MBV is one of those landmark albums for those that know of it.
I will also suggest a real great-but-obscure album: Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis. A musical prodigy, he wanted to follow the path of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, with more psychedelia. The Brothers Johnson covered Strawberry Letter 23 of this album and had a big hit. If you like that 70’s pop-funk with more studio exploration, check it out.
I know I’m late to the game and the paint has dried, but I like some funky music when I’m working on the house. Any album from Lettuce or Galactic for example. If I have to pick one from each, I’d go with the new one from Lettuce, Crush, and Ruckus from Galactic.
Well, all I know is - if Gary Spivey made an album, THAT is what you should listen to.
Please google him - QUICKLY!
I will now! I have had T-Bone Walker and T-Bone Burnett confused in my head. I’m not proud of that. Both are great but I couldn’t figure out how he’d been doing it so long.
:smack::smack: