To Go Along With Album Cover Art

This is a bit of a curious side project, one i've been mulling around in my handsome little head for awhile. Basically I'd like to develop album reviews over time. Give a short little synopsis of my immediate take and then let it sit, let it marinate before coming back and reinforcing, upholding, or destroying my initial summation(or just exposing I was in a good/bad mood first time round). There's some albums that just grow and open up over time, likewise there are some albums that are seemingly great but just don't pop up in the 'need to listen to' realm after a couple weeks.

To start, a new album by Common:



Universal Mind Control
First Listen:
After listening to it I really did kinda feel like Common is under some Universal (as in Universal Music Group) control. It's just not hitting. I don't feel the soul. It feels like a major label backed album in the sense that it's polished and bland in a 'universally' appealable way. The lead single, self titled, is i suppose, supposed to be an homage to Afrika Bambaataa but, eh. Just that, eh.
Actually listening to it, Common's voice even started to just annoy and become grating.
It wasn't until track 8(out of a whomping 10 song tracklist), "inhale" that a song stood out to me. I'll definitely listen again but have a feeling this will fade into my vast external back up drive.
I'm a hater.
Cheers.
-thos