And this is her most odd and original release. One which allegedly baffled EMI executives when the master tape was handed over. Where were the hit singles? What about lush piano-led ballads? Was that really Rolf Harris and was the donkey impression really necessary? Why oh why had they agreed to her demands for total artistic control? But to focus on the quirkiness of the album really was to miss the point. By a country mile.
Where else, in 1982, would you find an album with songs about bank heists gone wrong, Houdini, the plight of the indigenous Australians and the clandestine journey of a smuggler accompanied by a didgeridoo, animal impressions, backward voices, Uillean Pipes, drum machines and multi-tracked vocals. Absolutely stunning and quite an achievement for someone who had not even reached their mid-twenties. Even more astonishing is that such a non-mainstream album could reach No. 3 in the album charts.
It would be true to say that it was her masterpiece but from a vantage point of 2012 we know that there was even better to come - this was just a warm up as plans were already in motion for songs about hounds, cloudbusting and deals with God.
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