Coffee-Table Notes

Audrey Redpath wasn’t expecting Billy MacKenzie’s family to turn up at her debut gig fronting Band “A.”, founded specifically to play the late Associates’ vocalist’s songs from his band’s first album, The Affectionate Punch. This is exactly what happened, however, when Band “A” played the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, when others who had been enthralled by The Associates’ audacious way with a tune packed the venue’s ballroom to witness Redpath and co’s homage to MacKenzie and the band’s other half, Alan Rankine. While songs from the album that writer Paul Morley hailed as ‘a passionate cabaret soul music, a fulfilment of the European white dance music Bowie was flirting with back then’ were hard enough to play, the presence of the extended MacKenzie clan added extra edge. “I didn’t know they were coming,’ says Redpath. “They’d sent a message, but we missed it. In the end it didn’t matter, because they seemed to love it, were really supportive and totally gave their blessing to wh

Vaughan Oliver – Graphic designer, artist Born September 12, 1957; died December 29, 2019   Vaughan Oliver, who has died aged 62, was a graphic designer who helped redefine record sleeves as artworks. His vivid mesh of woozy abstractions, shimmering colours and classicist typography defined the visual identity for independent record label 4AD. His designs complemented the music contained within with a synaesthesic evocation of its often other-worldly and sense-heightening mystery. From 1981, when Oliver first came into contact with 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell in London and designed the cover for a Modern English record, his work gave the label its instantly recognisable look. Ornate, sumptuous and at times arcane, Oliver’s designs drew from the musical personality of whichever band he was illustrating, promising something equally mysterious beyond. This was the case for records by Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil, through to American bands Throwing M

Sue Lyon – Actress Born July 10, 1946; died December 26, 2019   Sue Lyon, who has died aged 73, will forever be associated with Lolita, the title role of Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, published seven years earlier. The name of the character played by Lyon was actually Dolores Haze, but she was gifted the nickname by James Mason’s middle-aged professor of French literature, Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed with the teenage girl. Lyon was only fourteen when she was chosen from more than 800 auditionees. The girl in Nabokov’s novel was twelve, with Kubrick adding a couple of years to fit in with Motion Picture Production Code standards. Kubrick described his new star as “the perfect nymphet.” “From the first, she was interesting to watch,” Kubrick told Look magazine of his new charge. “Even in the way she walked in for her interview, casually sat down, walked out. She was cool and non-giggly. She was enigmatic without being dull. She could keep