Personally I have always thought Undercover was extremely tacky and dull.
On the other hand, I love the Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon covers. I guess we are all different!

Hackney Diamonds artwork though - nah.

Quote
ProfessorWolf
hackeny diamonds love it or hate it but can we at least agree that the cover art was disappointing?

personally for the new album i want the cover art to be something simple like just an image of mick, keith and ronnie like this

Won't happen. They wanna appeal to young audiences who don't listen to the music if there are old men on the cover.

They also will get some hot actress like Sydney Sweeney to do the music video so don't have any hopes in that one either!

I don't care about all that, I'm just happy to get new music!

Quote
ProfessorWolf
hackeny diamonds love it or hate it but can we at least agree that the cover art was disappointing?

personally for the new album i want the cover art to be something simple like just an image of mick, keith and ronnie like this

Yes, quite disappointing. They haven't had great cover art in a very long time, IMHO. 'Blue and Lonesome' was also a missed opportunity. Considering the content within, something like a low lit living room scene with blues records laying around and an old record player would have been great. A cut/paste Stones tongue is about as unimaginative as it comes. Very much conveys album art as an afterthought. Like the generic image when you stream an album on some digital platform.

For album cover I’d like to see a Tattoo You revamp with Brian’s face on front and Ian’s on back

HACKNEY DIAMONDS' title seemed a bit cheeky - and their description of naming it was over the top and a bit silly - with options being SMASH AND GRAB. Thankfully they didn't use that because it's something a 12 year old would think was savvy.

The artwork failed.

What could they've done? A lot better. Actual - as in a picture, not AI or childish digital art - broken glass on a street. Maybe even a bit mysterious, showing the car in the background.

Hopefully what comes out in 2026 is better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-22 20:03 by GasLightStreet.

I think Hackney Diamonds is a great album but yeah the album art was terrible. There was a much better version of cover art released as a limited edition. It looked like broken glass.

Yeah, the Paul Smith design was a lot better.

Quote
floodonthepage

Quote
ProfessorWolf
hackeny diamonds love it or hate it but can we at least agree that the cover art was disappointing?

personally for the new album i want the cover art to be something simple like just an image of mick, keith and ronnie like this

Yes, quite disappointing. They haven't had great cover art in a very long time, IMHO. 'Blue and Lonesome' was also a missed opportunity. Considering the content within, something like a low lit living room scene with blues records laying around and an old record player would have been great. A cut/paste Stones tongue is about as unimaginative as it comes. Very much conveys album art as an afterthought. Like the generic image when you stream an album on some digital platform.

There’s a glaring omission in that shot: Keith’s belly

Quote
Barkerboy2
Yeah, the Paul Smith design was a lot better.

agreed

but i also like the cover used for the cassette that's just the tounge logo made out of broken glass (real physical broken glass)


if we could get at least this much effort put into the new album cover i'd be happy with it



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-12 20:05 by ProfessorWolf.

Hackney chat starts around 16 mins in ......

[www.youtube.com]



ROCKMAN

Quote
Big Al
There’s a glaring omission in that shot: Keith’s belly

Are you suggesting... AI? Or the old skool photoshop?

Maybe it's the angle - similar to how girls bend one leg... which is ridiculous.

Quote
GasLightStreet

Quote
Big Al
There’s a glaring omission in that shot: Keith’s belly

Are you suggesting... AI? Or the old skool photoshop?

Maybe it's the angle - similar to how girls bend one leg... which is ridiculous.

Ha! Well, one has to admit that his stomach looks a little ‘flatter’ than most other images of late. He’s an 81 year-old man with paunch; not Mick Jagger. I suspect a bit of trickery has been applied

Hacney diomonds means broken glass in London slang.

Quote
EggersBand
Hacney diomonds means broken glass in London slang.

I mean, this was the claim. As someone who has lived in London his whole life however, I have to say I'd never heard it uttered once. I have heard the phrase 'Dalston Diamonds' though, which is another area in London.

Quote
ProfessorWolf

Quote
Barkerboy2
Yeah, the Paul Smith design was a lot better.

agreed

but i also like the cover used for the cassette that's just the tounge logo made out of broken glass (real physical broken glass)


if we could get at least this much effort put into the new album cover i'd be happy with it

Ah yes, this one was good too. There is also a 'Kidsuper' cover which is the tongue made up of red thumbprints which is ok.

I loved the HD cover art. It certainly was not just a boring headshot!

If the aim was to imitate a perfume bottle, they achieved that.

I think it's quite remarkable that none of the recordings have been leaked.

Quote
Idorh

I think it's quite remarkable that none of the recordings have been leaked.

The major record companies have since some time anti-leakage measurements. For instance, Taylor Swift's 2025 album leaked just hours before its official release when some fans received their physical copies early and uploaded the songs.

.............I was disappointed that there wasn't an inside picture on the fold

..........Maybe for the new cover, one of the billboards for the "Angry" video, and how about a retrospect back cover or fold-out cover with Brian, Charlie,Ian Stewart, Mick Taylor and Bobby Keys.

..............P.S.---I have 2 copies of the Hackney Gazette with the "hidden ad"
for the album. Only 2500 in circulation; unlikely that there are many around; I believe the Gazette was a subscription, not sure many people would save them.

Quote
Barkerboy2

Quote
EggersBand
Hacney diomonds means broken glass in London slang.

I mean, this was the claim. As someone who has lived in London his whole life however, I have to say I'd never heard it uttered once. I have heard the phrase 'Dalston Diamonds' though, which is another area in London.

Dalston Diamonds is definitely more common. Not sure I'd ever heard the expression Hackney Diamonds before the Rolling Stones used it. Since Dalston is located in the borough of Hackney, the phrase might be a variation used locally. As Barkerboy2 probably knows, it doesn't just mean "broken glass", but quite specifically shattered vehicle glass on the pavement, left behind after a car break-in, the tiny pieces of glass on the ground looking like diamonds. Not an uncommon sight in Dalston/Hackney, hence the slang phrase.

It's unlikely the Stones had anything to do with it (zero reference in any of the songs) apart from picking it in a list submitted by the UMG marketing team. Actually I wonder which album titles they came up with themselves? I do remember Keith's story of calling the album "Some Girls" because they couldn't remember the names of all the girls they'd had...or that he was upset when Tattoo and became Tattoo You.

--------------
IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

Quote
gotdablouse
It's unlikely the Stones had anything to do with it (zero reference in any of the songs) apart from picking it in a list submitted by the UMG marketing team. Actually I wonder which album titles they came up with themselves? I do remember Keith's story of calling the album "Some Girls" because they couldn't remember the names of all the girls they'd had...or that he was upset when Tattoo and became Tattoo You.

UMG didn't have anything to do with the title.

No reference in any of the songs? Of course not. They have plenty of albums with no reference of the title.

Would you like a list?

That's weak. Fake news. You wonder which album titles they came up with themselves? They were clear about it.

Keith's quip about SOME GIRLS was factitious. His "anger" about TATTOO YOU was more so in jest.

Mick liked the artist involved calling it that.

There's nothing more to it.

For fucksake it won a Grammy.

Put the tin foil hat in the pantry.

A few words about the album title around thee 2.40 mark ....

Hit and Run ........ Smash & Grab .......... Hackney Diamonds



ROCKMAN

Quote
Rockman

A few words about the album title

"One of the most difficult parts of making the album was choosing a title. 'We’d been throwing out a lot of ideas, but no one could agree on anything,' Jagger says, tension building in his voice. 'I was at the end of my tether.' Then a friend of his, painter and sculptor Marc Quinn, showed him photos of what he called 'Hackney diamonds'. 'Hackney’s a part of London, so ‘Hackney diamonds’ is when you go out Saturday night, and you feel rough and ready to destroy things,' Jagger says. 'You smash the windshield of a car, and it all splinters out and the glass falls on the ground, and you call that ‘Hackney diamonds.’ I sent it ’round to Ronnie and Keith, and Keith said, ‘Yeah, go for it.’ I said, ‘Thank God for that. We’ve got one'. The relief still echoes in his voice." - [RollingStone.com] . HD credits: "Mark Quinn - Design Concept [Title Idea]" - [Discogs.com] , Picture.

Quote
Irix
... I sent it ’round to Ronnie and Keith, and Keith said, ‘Yeah, go for it.’

Is it known what Ronnie said? Or was he maybe asked only out of politeness?

In these situations, I think Ronnie is a guy you ask what he thinks because you know he's going to say he loves it.

I think the Hackney Diamonds is just brilliant tittle. Maybe it's me looking into it to deep. But I like to interpret the title as:

Hackney -> their London roots
Diamonds -> their celebration of roughly 60 years as a band
hackney diamonds -> broken glass -> because Charlie is missing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-25 17:47 by mrD.

It's just a title.. nothing more, nothing less.. Voodoo Lounge, Goat's head soup or Bridges to Babylon could easily have come from a random name generator too, right.

Quote
Jalfstra
It's just a title.. nothing more, nothing less.. Voodoo Lounge, Goat's head soup or Bridges to Babylon could easily have come from a random name generator too, right.

Some album titles are memorable, like Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, Tattoo You, and have an impact that are connected to the music.

There is the opposite, as well, like Dirty Work, but only hardcore Stones fans will understand that. The HOT ROCKS/REWIND crowd has no clue.