I like Neil Murray, even though he once suggested having me dragged along naked behind a ute, in a good-natured way, but nonetheless it's not a pretty image I'll grant you. And I've always thought him a little underrated in the songwriting stakes, and he's given two of his best songs (My Island Home and Ocean Of Regret) to the girl Anu, but his mix of pure songs of love, his genuinely unique view of Koori love for this land (ie having been part of the culture) and a bush ballad/yarning element that seems to be coming out more leaves him with a fine body of work.

And Dust keeps up the standard, his relationship songs mostly keeping their simple beauty, like album-preceding single This Bliss, he has retained the ability on matters emotional. There's a couple to match that song: Give This Day, a duet with Christine is similarly affecting, and In My Heart, with his very human vocals accompanied only by Chris Abrahams' piano is stark and beautiful.

Similarly, when dealing with the land, he gets the point across, notably on Dust's bookend tunes, Spirit and the according to Oils' Moginie a 'potential new anthem' in Native Born. The Oils' guitarist is one of the many high-powered guests that appear across the album, and give it some real polish. Beside the aforementioned Anu and Abrahams, there's Tiddas harmonies pop up in a number of places, David Bridie's atmospherics appear, as ever, and Archie Roach gets a look in as well.

But there are times when it falls over, usually when Neil tries to be maybe too Australian. The premise of Menindee, as the madness takes hold in the Burke & Wills expedition is fine, but the nasal twang of the vocal is just a bit on the overdone side. And Coolamon Moon's 'there's a dead bloke next to me on a bus' is an Australasian Post filler set to music that probably didn't deserve to be. Forget the Australia All Over fodder Neil, and stick to real emotion, that you do so well. And, no, I don't want a lift home in the ute, thanks.