Broadcast 2025-10-27

Grunge country. Don’t fret, I’m not going to go on about genres again.

This is great stuff, it has a hard beat, a good melody and a blockbuster vocal.

Nate is having none of this sharing the lead with an instrumental line. 

He is the line. His strong voice travels over the seriously strong backing, yes enjoy the music, but just focus on the vocal.

Odd storytelling though.

It’s more a snapshot in time than a story.

"Running again
Running to face my sorrow"

But what is the sorrow? We never find out.

Mind you, I love these lines:

"Please don’t believe these words, 
Most of them are borrowed,
Most of them are stolen"

That’s the English language in a nutshell. The English language not only borrows words from other languages, it chases them down dark lanes, beats them unconscious and goes through their pockets for new vocabulary!

But then

"Nothing to do today
Nothing to do tomorrow"

"Still I yearn"

What for? Nothing to do? 

It’s great music, but the song leaves me unsatisfied …


Nate Micheal - Grunge Country - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-10-27

It would seem that Melbourne’s No 96 tram is much like Geelong’s No 1 bus route. Everywhere north to south in  their hometown.

Road trip songs are a staple, and my favourite would have to be John Phillips “Holland Tunnel” which gives directions to get out of New York and head to Los Angeles.

But I digress.

It’s light and it’s fun. I like the lines

Where I end up who can say?
No 96 is taking us to the other side.

From the tram bell at the beginning and onwards, it is obvious that this is not a deep and meaningful philosophical number.

That’s a welcome change.

It follows a tradition of such songs – The Mixtures “Pushbike Song” comes to mind.

It also seems a very Melbourne thing to define yourself by public transport route you are on. During my three years in Melbourne I travelled on the “Heidelberg, Eltham and Hurstbridge” train, in the days of the red rattlers, and I knew every twist and station on the trip, but not that much away from the track.

I love the deepness of Pink Floyd and Leonard Cohen, but sometimes you have to have a laugh.

Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission will be at the Birregurra Hall on Friday Nov 14, and at the Eureka with The Ferriters on Saturday the 15th


Mick Thomas Roving Commission - A Mighty Ride Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

Listening to this, I thought that there was no way that this was finished in one day!

Well it wasn’t – sparked, not finished, my mistake.

It is sensational, though isn’t it. Who cares how many days it took.

And echoes of Penguin Café Orchestra, they found the organ in the hard rubbish??

What are people throwing out these days??

Anyhow, enough of the banter, listen to that sound.

I am a sucker for the sound of a full range of instruments like this, and surely after this, you must be too..

The melody is deceptively simple and easy to follow, and that makes huge opportunities for working with it, throwing it from one instrument to another, building big, solid, harmonies.

Insanely listenable, and played clear, crisp and tight!

The lyrics are smooth, and slide around the instrumentals, providing a contrast to the clipped notes of the brass.

I was there in those golden 1970s, and this could slip in amongst the best without a problem.

Very cool!


CJ Commerford and the Supertones - Taste Of Your Love - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

It’s not hard to recognise a Dog Trumpet song.

The sound has a familiar feel, the performance has a trademark excellence.

That’s not a surprise, given the close and long-lasting relationship these two have had.

Altogether, that’s a high expectation to have of this musical collaboration, but they deliver every time.

The topic here is the Lismore floods. How do you compose something that talks of that, without making is completely mournful?

I’ve been too close for comfort to bushfires, but never a major flood. With a bushfire, there’s always a feeling that you can fight back, that there could be a shift of wind, something.

With floods though, there’s a certain inevitability. There’s water, it’s coming, you can’t stop it, all you can do is delay and divert.

To make this work, you first have to tell the story, they excel at lyrics.

First setting the scene …

“Down in sheets, it rained and it rained for weeks”
“Better take care, when bad luck drowns out your prayers.”

… and then watching the inevitable …

“.. the river keeps rising, watching your world disappear …”
“… it’s all out of order, it’s all under water …”

… as always the community response is heroic, in its classical sense of impressive in size or scope, where old scores are set aside. An echo of Lawson’s fire at Ross’s farm …

“… in the mud and the debris, you came out to help me, while your own house was under water …”

Packaging this into three and a half minutes is truly impressive, and I’ll always remember that line “… it’s all out of order, it’s all under water …”



Dog Trumpet - Under Water - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

Girl Friday is a frequent visitor to Tempo, and is it any wonder?

I love this song for a number of reasons.

The stately pace and sound of the instrumental is modern, yet classical, and provides a suitable background for Girl Friday’s vocal.

The definition of waltz is “to roll or revolve,” and the waltz is traditionally danced with the dancers holding each other so closely that their faces touched.

At one time this was considered shocking.

In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë has the local vicar intervening when a waltz is called for, declaring "No, no, I don't allow that!”

I think this history lesson is appropriate because the lyrics are about two people coming back together, with some gained perspective from their time apart, and with attitudes which have moved on their breakup.

The lyrics put this feeling so well. I love them.

Girl Friday’s wonderful vocals themselves match the stateliness of the song’s pace, they are clear and beautiful.

Absolutely brilliant.


Girl Friday and the Sepia Tones - Least Of My Regrets - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-03

This track really threw me initially. I couldn’t grasp the rhythm. 

It felt more like a jazz track, but I think there’s a standard four four hidden there, which is fascinating.

The piano is definitely lead, and the other instruments emerge and then fall back to be replaced by others.

Just like her last track that I reviewed, there’s a distinctive feel to the percussion, and by that I mean there’s more than a drum kit.

Jhana’s vocals are impressive, strong, almost a ringing vocal, and well-modulated and playing with the musical time.

I love that, I could listen to this all day.

I feel this is about an unrequited love, putting yourself out there, talking to friends, and I think this is the first song that I have heard that mentions seeking counselling.

The agony of “trying to be with you is like trying to get to a fake paradise.”

The bitter warning from a friend that “so many others have fallen into black holes” doing this.

I find this song completely seductive. 


Jhana Allan - Fake Paradise - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

I had to smile when I heard the opening of this song.

Neil Finn released this song in 1984, the year my son Matt was born, and I remember it well.

The song has a history and it has longevity. 

This century it was still being nominated for awards, in 2001 the Australian Performing Rights Association members voted it 36th for best New Zealand song of the 20th century.

With that heritage, and with Neil Finn leaning over your shoulder, taking it on was a ballsy move.

It would be easy to do this review by bouncing back and forth between the two versions, but that would not be fair to either.

This is a minimalist version, with a light instrumental and a single clear voice enhanced with occasional harmony.

The opening guitar introduces it, and I can hear a bit of George Harrison in the tone.

There are light flourishes from the violin, which also takes on an instrumental bridge as do the other stringed instruments.

Some might contest the description as country, it equally could be folk, a trivial argument.

The essential verdict on this, is excellent. 

Angus has taken ‘Message to My Girl’ and made his own unique version.

This is not a cover, it is an excellent reworking of that classic song.


Angus Gill - Message To My Girl - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

This song almost feels like a classical aria.

The violin is a constant, working with and around the vocal melody.

The steel provides a counterpoint, and the other instruments support them.

The song achieves Keane’s vision of the inner child, but not just asking, almost pleading, and her tone gives me a feeling that this is not a new plea, and the child knows it will fail.

The overall feeling is of desolation and despair.

This song is so effective in creating that feeling, it needs a Beyond Blue warning.

I’m amazed at its strength.


Simone Keane - Come Back - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

The introduction immediately had me thinking of Lori Anderson’s song ‘O Superman,’ but only thinking …

Sherri’s trademark tone is still there taking the vocals high and clear above the instrumental backing.

The tempo has come up, and the tone quality of the beat has the dance/party vibe.

The storytelling has adopted the repeated chorus lyrics reinforcing that the genre is noted for.

The chorus is expressing a need for a break in a relationship, and that’s appropriate to the faster beat, that’s not a suggestion you want to drag out - get it out, get it done.

Again there’s an abrupt ending, it’s becoming a Sherri Parry trademark.

It’s a change in direction. Does it work? I think so.



Sherri Parry - Take a Break - Tempo Review

Broadcast 2025-11-10

Regular listeners will know that I play classical pieces less often than I would like, so I was very pleased when Mark asked me if I would be interested in playing this.

I hope you also enjoyed it.

This second movement is described as adagietto cantando.

That sent me back to the music theory books to shake out a few cobwebs.

Adagietto is described as being moderately paced, encouraging calmness and contemplation. Cantando as being performed in a song like style.

This movement is truly beautiful, and I can hear it fitting its description.

The sound and pace of the opening strings provide that gentle feeling of relaxed contemplation.

A contrasting rising passage ups the tempo, and I can hear a harp in the arrangement.

A more relaxed return to the earlier tempo has a delicate metal xylophone above the strings.

I really love this, and I can’t believe that it has taken so long to get it performed and released to the public.

All to often we hear the refrain that there is no general audience for classical music, so we can’t programme it. But until it is programmed more often, there will be no general audience for classical music.

I hope you listened and enjoyed it.

For my part, I’ll have to rearrange the format of a Tempo program, so that we can hear the full symphony.

Mark Isaacs’ Symphony No. 2 has been released on major digital musical platforms.



Mark Isaacs - Symphony No. 2 II. Adagietto cantando - Tempo Review

Weekly uploads of reviews and interviews from the program, "Tempo". "Tempo" is a weekly radio program presented by John Lamp, highlighting a wide range of music and music reviews on 94.7 the Pulse in Geelong, Wadawurrung country. John has been involved in community radio since 1976, initially with a music program "Parcel of Rogues" on 7CAE-FM in Hobart, Tasmania. After moving to Geelong, he joined 94.7 the Pulse on the program "Folks Alive", which morphed into "~meanderings~." John then spent a decade on the station Boards of Management before returning to the air in 2022 with his new program "Tempo." Full programs can be accessed at the link below.

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