No-skips
This is my running list of no-skip albums. The bar here is higher than just albums I like: a no-skip album is an album you can listen to its entirety, without skipping tracks (in other words, "no skips"). These are listed alphabetically by artist.
To The Faithful Departed (The Cranberries, 1996)
Format: CD
Favorite song: Joe
I like that The Cranberries went higher energy for To The Faithful Departed compared to their previous two. I love those albums dearly, but the increased variation in tempo and tone makes this album easier to listen to front to back for me.
Transatlanticism (Death Cab for Cutie, 2003)
Format: CD
Favorite song: A Lack of Color
Transatlanticism is the epitome of music to listen to while you're staring wistfully out of a car/bus/train window on a rainy day. I've always liked several individual songs on it, but I didn't appreciate the album as a complete body of work until I got older. I really like how sparse the instrumentation is; it gives the lyrics and vocals space to breathe.
Splendido Hotel (Al Di Meola, 1980)
Format: Vinyl
Favorite song: Silent Story in Her Eyes
Listening to Splendido Hotel on vinyl was a life-changing experience and a huge reason why I like it so much. Di Meola is incredibly versatile, and he puts his skills to work by hopping genres on each of the songs (while still ensuring the album works as a cohesive unit). It's a long album (a little over an hour over two LPs), but taking the time to give it a good listen is well worth it.
Shinbangumi (Ginger Root, 2024)
Format: Digital
Favorite song: Take Me Back (Owakare No Jikan)
This album is the pinnacle in an already strong sequence from Ginger Root. There are a lot of city pop imitations out there, but Cameron Lew keeps his music from sounding like a bland copy by keeping his vision incredibly focused and adding his own flair to the execution. He's also turned the album into a film series, which is itself a love letter to all of its influences while still being fresh and not taking itself too seriously. I plan on buying this on vinyl eventually.
Damn (Kendrick Lamar, 2017)
Format: CD
Favorite song: Loyalty
What can I even say about Damn that hasn't been said already? Kendrick Lamar is, as usual, an incredible storyteller, and his rapping is more than enough to hold up a song on its own. The album can (and should) be played backwards, an intentional choice (written into the last song, Duckworth) that completely changes its narrative and lyrical tone.
Imploding the Mirage (The Killers, 2020)
Format: Vinyl
Favorite song: Lightning Fields
I love this album. It transcends description. The most reasonable description I can provide is that it's all the things that made Sam's Town great, but there's just more to it. And you really have to listen to it on vinyl with some good speakers to experience it in full — the sound fills the room.
Imaginary Day (Pat Metheny Group, 1997)
Format: CD
Favorite song: The Heat of the Day
Imaginary Day is a really interesting album compared to Metheny's other work and other music in general; I've never heard anything like it, and I doubt I ever will. It takes the "fusion" part of jazz fusion to an extreme. Listening to it makes you feel like you're in a dream, with offbeat textures and composition choices that don't feel completely real.
Moving Pictures (Rush, 1981)
Format: Vinyl
Favorite song: YYZ
Moving Pictures is considered to be The quintessential Rush album and one of the best prog albums there is, so me including it here is a little trite, but... I mean... yeah. It's the perfect infusion of Rush's older prog sound into the radio-friendly direction they decided to go in starting in 1980. There are absolutely no misses here; it was hard picking a favorite song, but YYZ won because of the 10/8 in the introduction portion and incredible live performances with extended drum solos.
Signals (Rush, 1982)
Format: CD
Favorite song: The Analog Kid
I like all of the Rush synthesizer era albums, but the balance between the synth and Alex Lifeson's guitar makes this one really magical. I would like to own it on vinyl one day.
The New Abnormal (The Strokes, 2020)
Format: Vinyl
Favorite song: Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus
I've been a fan of The Strokes for a long time, and I've actually enjoyed every release of theirs (in contrast to the people who said they fell off after Room on Fire). Still, The New Abnormal has a fresh feel to it that I don't get from any of the earlier Strokes albums. It's a nice blend of their previous work with a new spin that I can't really explain, and I can even hear a bit of Julian Casablancas' solo style that snuck its way into some songs (see At The Door).
Also, weirdly prescient title, especially considering the album was released in April 2020.