Genuine Dud
I don't enjoy browsing through the vinyl selection in my local charity shop as much as I used to now that it contains quite so many records that I donated there years ago that seem to be in no danger of ever being sold. To go there is to be confronted anew with past regrets. Still, they had one LP that caught my eye on Saturday morning: Genuine Dud by the Dudley Moore Trio. This was an original '66 pressing in very good condition with a slightly distressed sleeve (Fig. 9). It cost me £2.50.
Moore's success as a comic writer and performer overshadowed his considerable pianistic talent, but meanwhile must have helped enable the release of the several recordings he made with his trio. The first of these was The Other Side of Dudley Moore, released in 1965, with Genuine Dud coming next, seeing daylight the following year. On both LPs his bandmates were Pete McGurk on bass and Chris Karan on drums. It's a well-recorded slice of amiable piano jazz, with seven more or less familiar standards plus two of Moore's own compositions. There are ballads, blues and bossa nova numbers: try their take on the Kern/Harbach tune ‘Yesterdays‘ for example.
I'm not well-versed in the subgenre of dark fantasy, though I have dabbled a little along its more literary frontier. At the weekend I finished something that was a bit more of a page-turner in the shape of Asunder by Kerstin Hall. I had bought it as a gift for someone else before a late change of plan left it with me. Rather than try to return it I thought I may as well read it myself. I found it worthwhile & absorbing, set in a well-imagined and plausibly ‘lived-in’ world with intriguingly alien religious traditions that neatly informed the magic, technology and politics at play in the story. In certain other respects Hall was content to leave her world more like the real one. The characterisation was pretty good, and the conventionally-structured plot kept things moving at a steady enough clip. Personally I’d have preferred a proper ending over a sequel-friendly one, but I know that the market for this kind of fiction tends to demand series more than standalones.
Cheese of the week: some Manouri, bought at Lidl. It's a whey-based cheese made in Greece from sheep and/or goatsmilk, apparently a by-product of feta production, but a subtly delicious foodstuff in its own right. As it says here “Manouri has a firm texture, a rich, buttery flavour with mild citrusy notes and a milky aroma, it’s less salty than Feta and creamier than Halloumi.”