Press
June 1st, 2008
"John's clever lyrics and perfectly crafted songs are outdone only by his huge and prolific body of work. This guy puts out a solid album twice a year. No wonder his songs are good. He also has a killer band."
-- Denver Music Scene, Top Ten Singer-Songwriters
August 15th, 2006
"Common has achieved the musical equivalent of picking up seven tiles in a game of Scrabble and being able to lay down “bezique” on the first turn."
-- FIVE MAGAZINE, TAOS, NEW MEXICO
January 12th, 2010
Since moving to Denver from Florida nearly 15 years ago, singer-songwriter John Common has knocked around Denver in a number of incarnations. At the turn of the millennium, Common and his collaborators in Rainville gained a loyal following while sticking pretty close to a tried-and-true roots/Americana formula. Nearly ten years and countless songs later, “Beautiful Empty” — the performer’s latest release with a rotating cast of musicians called John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light — amply demonstrates far greater stylistic breadth and showcases a songwriter of remarkable depth and maturity.
Beautiful Empty... It’s a pop record that invites you to poke beneath the surface, and rewards you with soul, insight and some musical surprises.
-- Denver Post | Steal This Track
July 24th, 2007
"Why Birds Fly is even more uncommon than its acclaimed 2006 predecessor...the aural environment Common creates is so sumptuous that it rewards repeated listens even as it confounds expectations."
-- WESTWORD MAGAZINE
August 13th, 2009
Beautiful Empty Short Film Conspiracy: "If you like music -- especially the music of John Common -- and have an interest in making film, there's a project you should know about. In the wake of his successful Common Box Project, a collaborative project that asked visual artists to create a piece of assemblage box art inspired by the music from his new record, Common is seeking to pull off something similar with film."
-- WESTWORD MAGAZINE
February 4th, 2009
"With a straight-out-of-agit-prop name like John Common, he might have been, in another place and time, at the head of a revolutionary vanguard. And yet, there is still something vaguely revolutionary about Common's latest labor."
-- DENVER POST
January 23rd, 2009
"John Common is kind of a weird dude."
-- WESTWORD MAGAZINE
August 10th, 2006
"A brilliant, extremely ambitious disc... Denver's finest rock recording of the past decade." (Good To Be Born)
-- WESTWORD MAGAZINE
January 4th, 2010
So we've been listening to John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light's new record, Beautiful Empty, for the past few weeks, and man, have we been digging it. So much so, that we convinced Mr. Common to let us hook you up with our favorite track, "Love Is a Shark" -- despite the fact that the record won't officially be released until next weekend.
-- WESTWORD MAGAZINE
June 15th, 2009
John Common and the Blinding Flashes of Light
First of all, can somebody please set up Jessica Mefford with her own band? Please? Based on her contributions to Jen Korte's Loss and John Common's Blinding Flashes of Light on Saturday, she appears to be the second coming of Neko Case, red hair and all. Her fantastic vocals would have stolen the show (and briefly did, in the band's penultimate song) were it not for the commanding stage presence of John Common, whose stomping, bluesy alt-country songs made for a nice pick-me-up after Ellison Park's somber set, an excellent way to end the day at Mo's. Common's other secret weapons included Wes Michaels, who switched off between cello and soprano saxophone, and drummer Carl Sorenson, who had also played with Tyler Despres earlier in the day. The band played a slightly abbreviated set in order to hurry along to another gig, but it was more than enough to thoroughly entertain the crowd.
-- Westword
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