I thought it would be interesting to ask IF there is a new Stones album and YOU could design the inner and outer layout's what would it be?

A design ala Voodoo & Bridges?
A pic of the group?
A woman like Made in the shade...

Etc.. etc.... I.M.H.O. The last couple decades have lacked a really good album cover and art.

Although I did like the unique sleeve design for B.2.B.

I would have to say the last cool Stones cover art would have to be for me, Tattoo You, even though the inner design was very weak artistically.

So.... having said all that what would you do? How would it look etc...

( P.S. my fav. artwork that really stands out as an artistic statement that ALSO reflected the music with in is Let It Bleed)

"Well my heavy throbbers itchin' just to lay a solid rhythm down"



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2010-04-02 07:36 by Marhsall.

I liked the Voodoo Lounge artwork quite well. But agree I'd like to see something akin to some of the classics. Artwork just doesn't get the treatment it deserves in this day and age.

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tumblingdice
I liked the Voodoo Lounge artwork quite well. But agree I'd like to see something akin to some of the classics. Artwork just doesn't get the treatment it deserves in this day and age.

Should be pretty easy to get a decent artwork. Slap a Ronnie original on the front cover, and a Charlie drawing (of a bed) on the back. Lastly, 4 individual face shots on the inner sleeve. That should do it. Alternatively they could have a pic on the front cover of an old, run-down porch (Think old Delta-blues style). Keith sitting knee to knee with Ronnie playing acoustics to the left. Ronnie's guitar being one of those metal steel National guitars and Keith's being a Hummingbird. Mick sitting on the stairs in the foreground leering out on us and Charlie enjoying a glass of juice on the swing bench to the right. The whole thing shot in sepia (A bit like the Jerry Lee Lewis cover for Young Blood). That would be great. Hell, have Annie Liebowitz, Anton Corbijn or Brian Rasic shoot it to boot.

JumpingKentFlash

I wouldn't give it to anyone who made the design fot their latest albums!

The VL cover is butt ugly, but the inner sleeves are cool. B2B is flat out ugly throughout. Forty Licks is kind of boring. ABB is great in all it's toned down glory. Stripped is great. No Security and Live Licks are bad, as in BAD, and SAL is kind of good. The VL bunnyman... What were they thinking? I understand the whole voodoo theme, but opposed to all the other great designs in the VL package, the bunnyman is too bright and looks weird.

JumpingKentFlash

I always liked the picture of the group....I would have it look like the cover of Got live if you want it or Exile.
I have a number of small shots of each bandmember in action and a group shot of them in the middle...
And anything would be better then the Bridges or No Security album covers..

How about a plain white gatefold sleeve with The Rolling Stones embosssed on the front. You could have some black and white pictures of the band inside. To complete the effect the first million copies could be numbered. It would be an intsant design classic.

more lime-green sofas!

OH NO!!! NO MORE SOFAS!!! ha...But still not as bad as the Bridges cover..ha..

Their last good LP cover was Undercover. Since then every one has sucked. Although I don't think they've ever done anything as bad as Dirty Work and hopefully never will.

Stripped was and still is arrogant and rather odd. The inside pics are much better.

Voodoo was awful but like it's been mentioned the inside pics are much better.

For some reason I sort of liked Bridges - but that does not mean it's good. I thought the ASMB? single cover was brilliant - those, what, silver plated Rome-esque looking tongues presented as postage stamps was hilarious.

A Bigger Bang could have been better. Although I was finally glad to see the band on the cover again, the font and the presentation could have been much better.

No Security sucks, Licks Live sucks, Shine A Light is not good. Jump Back and Licks are the only interesting ones of the entire Virgin Records era.

How is Undercover a good one? It's among the worst imo. I like some of the Virgin ones, but I agree that many are bad (Strange, 'cause the inner sleeves are better many times). Stripped is a good one for sure, and I've seen many alternate takes of that cover shoot. I can understand that they chose the one they did. Jagger is doing a constricted pose on too many of the alternate shots. Great ones in between though. They probably chose the one they did because, as far as I recall, that one was the single pic that they all looked equal. It was the one that was neutral between the 4 of them, and I like the one they finally took even though I quite like covers where Jagger stands out as the primadonna.

JumpingKentFlash

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skipstone
Although I don't think they've ever done anything as bad as Dirty Work and hopefully never will.

I liked it, actually. It's totally unique (for them) and you can bet they'll never do it again!

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skipstone
Stripped was and still is arrogant and rather odd. The inside pics are much better.

I like the arrogance, actually - it was justified. Stripped was much better than all these crapola "Unplugged" albums that were being released at the time/

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skipstone
Voodoo was awful but like it's been mentioned the inside pics are much better.

It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. And I like the pics inside too.

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skipstone
For some reason I sort of liked Bridges - but that does not mean it's good.

I think it was boring.

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skipstone
A Bigger Bang could have been better. Although I was finally glad to see the band on the cover again, the font and the presentation could have been much better.

I didn't like it, it was a bit too vague for me.

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skipstone
Jump Back and Licks are the only interesting ones of the entire Virgin Records era.

Jump Back also looked uninspired to me, but Forty Licks is good.

I also like Steel Wheels.

I always thought it would be kind of cool for the band to hold the same pose on their potentially last album as they did on their very first album. And no words on the cover: just the same sideways glance standing in front of a dark background, but nearly 50 years later (except that Bill wouldn't be on the new cover, and Ron replaces Brian, of course). The first and last album covers would, in essence, appear as suitable "bookends" to a fabulous career. What do you all think?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-04-01 20:00 by sf37.

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sf37
I always thought it would be kind of cool for the band to hold the same pose on their potentially last album as they did on their very first album. And no words on the cover: just the same sideways glance standing in front of a dark background, but nearly 50 years later (except that Bill wouldn't be on the new cover, and Ron replaces Brian, of course). The first and last album covers would, in essence, appear as suitable "bookends" to a fabulous career. What do you all think?

not so much

On their next album cover I would like to have the Union Jack on the whole cover with The Stones tongue logo faded into it.With the look its all been carved into rock with the words..The Rolling Stones..Made In England on it.

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T&A

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sf37
I always thought it would be kind of cool for the band to hold the same pose on their potentially last album as they did on their very first album. And no words on the cover: just the same sideways glance standing in front of a dark background, but nearly 50 years later (except that Bill wouldn't be on the new cover, and Ron replaces Brian, of course). The first and last album covers would, in essence, appear as suitable "bookends" to a fabulous career. What do you all think?

not so much

The Beatles did it with the original cover idea for Get Back, same exact location as the Please Please Me cover, then they changed it and later used the pic on the Blue album cover. This would only work for the Stones if they used the same location as an album from the 60's....Big Hits?

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Rochdale3

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T&A

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sf37
I always thought it would be kind of cool for the band to hold the same pose on their potentially last album as they did on their very first album. And no words on the cover: just the same sideways glance standing in front of a dark background, but nearly 50 years later (except that Bill wouldn't be on the new cover, and Ron replaces Brian, of course). The first and last album covers would, in essence, appear as suitable "bookends" to a fabulous career. What do you all think?

not so much

The Beatles did it with the original cover idea for Get Back, same exact location as the Please Please Me cover, then they changed it and later used the pic on the Blue album cover. This would only work for the Stones if they used the same location as an album from the 60's....Big Hits?

bit of a difference when you're talking 7 years with the same members versus 47 years and only 60% of original members...

Covers aside they've never been a band big on eponymous track titled albums. Think you have to go back to Dirty Work. Still,what's in a name?

Just a big photo of Bill Wyman's metal detector.

their last good one IMO was Some Girls. Although TY is great, the album and artwork was a let down for me when I got the CD. I wasn't old enough to remember when It came out , but The apparent lack of effort that went into it and lack of song writing credits must have given some hint that the band really didn't get together to make a new album.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2010-04-01 22:57 by ryanpow.

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JumpingKentFlash

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tumblingdice
I liked the Voodoo Lounge artwork quite well. But agree I'd like to see something akin to some of the classics. Artwork just doesn't get the treatment it deserves in this day and age.

Should be pretty easy to get a decent artwork. Slap a Ronnie original on the front cover, and a Charlie drawing (of a bed) on the back. Lastly, 4 individual face shots on the inner sleeve. That should do it. Alternatively they could have a pic on the front cover of an old, run-down porch (Think old Delta-blues style). Keith sitting knee to knee with Ronnie playing acoustics to the left. Ronnie's guitar being one of those metal steel National guitars and Keith's being a Hummingbird. Mick sitting on the stairs in the foreground leering out on us and Charlie enjoying a glass of juice on the swing bench to the right. The whole thing shot in sepia (A bit like the Jerry Lee Lewis cover for Young Blood). That would be great. Hell, have Annie Liebowitz, Anton Corbijn or Brian Rasic shoot it to boot.

Yep. Both great ideas.

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ryanpow
their last good one IMO was Some Girls. Although TY is great, the album and artwork was a let down for me when I got the CD. I wasn't old enough to remember when It came out , but The apparent lack of effort that went into it and lack of song writing credits must have given some hint that the band really didn't get together to make a new album.

Jagger even added the "You" in the title, without consulting Keith first...

BUT - I think the artwork for Tattoo You is very good....even if it's just Jagger's face on the front. I like the colours and strange mood
The vinyl is a whole lot better than the CD, concerning those "faults" you mention...it has a lyric-sheet inside - and that sexy horsewoman boot!

Lyric Sheets ... I did not know that. The stones never had those on their albums back in the day. maybe its to make up for the fact that they don't say who's playing what on that one. One day I'll get a record player and hear TY the way its meant to sound.

I never knew that tattoo you had lyric sheets either! never seen it anywhere. can you post?

"Well my heavy throbbers itchin' just to lay a solid rhythm down"

[remasters.rollingstones.com]

"Well my heavy throbbers itchin' just to lay a solid rhythm down"

No lyric sheet there but that's a pretty interesting site. I've never seen it.

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71Tele
Just a big photo of Bill Wyman's metal detector.

LOL haha..oh man this is the funniest thing have read all day.

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sf37
I always thought it would be kind of cool for the band to hold the same pose on their potentially last album as they did on their very first album. And no words on the cover: just the same sideways glance standing in front of a dark background, but nearly 50 years later (except that Bill wouldn't be on the new cover, and Ron replaces Brian, of course). The first and last album covers would, in essence, appear as suitable "bookends" to a fabulous career. What do you all think?

Of course that would involve the Stones asdopting an idea that the Beatles tried but discarded. Nothing new there!!!

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colonial
On their next album cover I would like to have the Union Jack on the whole cover with The Stones tongue logo faded into it.With the look its all been carved into rock with the words..The Rolling Stones..Made In England on it.

Plain & basic,yes !.



I am a Frenchie ,as Mick affectionately called them in the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 .

I think Voodoo Lounge is one of the best cover designs from the 90's on. I find it more attractive than Bridges and A Bigger Bang or Live Licks. It is more taken care of, has more creativity.