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mrD
I think the Hackney Diamonds is just brilliant tittle...

It is!

Also concerning the art work a lot of people don't seem to like. The way I see it.
Keith has on more than one occasion referred to Charlie as being the *heart* and soul of the band.
The cover shows a big diamond *heart* which is now shattered. The reference to Charlie couldn't be more clearer for me.

I love the title, the art work and the music, really fine record!

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Irix

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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.

Thanks for digging that out, so was his friend just showing him photos or was he pitching an idea for a cover/title ?

Found this in a PDF hosted on IORR [iorr.org] " Studio Fury, the design studio for this and several more Stones projects declined to comment on the potential meaning of the title. Artist Marc Quinn declined to comment on his role in naming the album."

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

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goingmad
I love the title, the art work and the music, really fine record!

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mrD
Also concerning the art work a lot of people don't seem to like. The way I see it.
Keith has on more than one occasion referred to Charlie as being the *heart* and soul of the band.
The cover shows a big diamond *heart* which is now shattered. The reference to Charlie couldn't be more clearer for me.

Unfortunately it's their most cartoonish looking LP cover while looking like it was created by AI.

I am just sharing why I enjoy the art work of Hackney Diamonds and think it is beautiful.

For me the tittle of most cartoonish cover art goes to grrr! I yet have to understand how grrr! tittle and "art" ever came to be.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-27 22:34 by mrD.

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GasLightStreet
Unfortunately it's their most cartoonish looking LP cover while looking like it was created by AI.

Yeah, at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I really wish someone put pencil, pen, or paintbrush to paper, used a camera with minimal photoshop, baked a cake (at risk of repeating themselves), collaged a bunch of images, or did anything to add a human touch.

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cyclist

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GasLightStreet
Unfortunately it's their most cartoonish looking LP cover while looking like it was created by AI.

Yeah, at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I really wish someone put pencil, pen, or paintbrush to paper, used a camera with minimal photoshop, baked a cake (at risk of repeating themselves), collaged a bunch of images, or did anything to add a human touch.

Ah, the good old day when mankind actually put their abilities to use!

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mrD
I am just sharing why I enjoy the art work of Hackney Diamonds and think it is beautiful.

For me the tittle of most cartoonish cover art goes to grrr! I yet have to understand how grrr! tittle and "art" ever came to be.

That damn gorilla. The title makes it worse!!!

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Big Al

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cyclist

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GasLightStreet
Unfortunately it's their most cartoonish looking LP cover while looking like it was created by AI.

Yeah, at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I really wish someone put pencil, pen, or paintbrush to paper, used a camera with minimal photoshop, baked a cake (at risk of repeating themselves), collaged a bunch of images, or did anything to add a human touch.

Ah, the good old day when mankind actually put their abilities to use!

Look at every album cover since 1989, with one exception, of course, and what all appears to be strictly a digital design. Some are kind of interesting, like BABYLON, but nothing seems to connect with the music like most of their previous album covers.

LET IT BLEED is the most bizarre but that's only because they decided not to use AUTOMATIC CHANGER for the title, which is what artwork is based on. Others don't make sense - jeans for sticky fingers? Mick in whatever for GHS when what should've been the album cover is within the album?

SOME GIRLS might be their most brilliant cover in terms of creativity.

Maybe they'll have an actual picture for the new album.

GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

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GasLightStreet

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

Steel Wheels?

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GasLightStreet

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

"The Rolling Stones" (their first album) – the album cover shows The Rolling Stones

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GasLightStreet

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

Exile on Main Street cover LOOKS like the music sounds to me, so that makes perfect sense!

Rod



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-30 15:11 by bitusa2012.

Voodoo Lounge as well, at least to me ... as Keith's newly found cat, Voodoo, was there for the recording sessions - and the bunnyman cover, representing the guard/gatekeeper to the lounge, but also somewhat representing Mick on stage.

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GasLightStreet

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

Gaslight, are you too young to have the original LP with the actual working zipper?

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JadedFaded

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GasLightStreet

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

Gaslight, are you too young to have the original LP with the actual working zipper?

I have it. Again. Fourth or fifth time. Anyone can find that version somewhere anyway, I don't think age has anything to do with it.

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slewan

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GasLightStreet

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TeaAtThree
GasLight Street,

Erm, the jeans aren't exactly the reference point for the title...

T@3

Exactly. I wasn't clear about that?

Of course it makes no sense.

There's not one album title that makes sense in regard to the album cover except for TATOO YOU.

"The Rolling Stones" (their first album) – the album cover shows The Rolling Stones

Ooops. Yeah, that makes sense.

I guess Steel Wheels makes sense. Perhaps because it looks like a third grader designed it and it's uglishly stupid I blotted it out.

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slewan


"The Rolling Stones" (their first album) – the album cover shows The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones and The Rolling Stones No.2 are, for me, their greatest covers; especially the first. Absolutely no words were necessary.

What is weird about Let it Bleed cover is in the record, the photo.of the Stones was a pho they took with Brian.They then took his face on and pasted in Taylor’s.Why didn’t they just use a photo.with the new band.Their worst alb covers are A Bigger Bang Steel Wheels and Emotional Rescue.

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Taylor1
What is weird about Let it Bleed cover is in the record, the photo.of the Stones was a pho they took with Brian.They then took his face on and pasted in Taylor’s.Why didn’t they just use a photo.with the new band.Their worst alb covers are A Bigger Bang Steel Wheels and Emotional Rescue.

Really? I wonder if someone can post the original and doctored photos?

I wonder how the "New Album" thread turned into a discussion of what are the best album covers from the past.

Regardless of how we feel about the covers from the past the band approved them.

All of them have a place in time. There may be reasons none of us know.

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Taylor1
What is weird about Let it Bleed cover is in the record, the photo.of the Stones was a pho they took with Brian.They then took his face on and pasted in Taylor’s.Why didn’t they just use a photo.with the new band.Their worst alb covers are A Bigger Bang Steel Wheels and Emotional Rescue.

Bridges To Babylon belongs in that list, imo.

I kind of like the ER cover. It's so off that it becomes unique in a way. In a weird way, it suits the brilliant music, too.

Indeed, the cover art for Bridges To Babylon is as ugly as the album is mediocre.
I love the cover art for Dirty Work, though.

Agreed, DW album cover is cool. The Stones looking smart and sleezy with a technicolour 80s vibe.

Feels weird for me to hear that someone thinks B2B is mediocre. And personally I love the cover - one of the cooler ones. Same with Voodoo Lounge.

I would have liked something like the Stripped cover instead of what they did for B&L - that was shite.

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Taylor1
What is weird about Let it Bleed cover is in the record, the photo.of the Stones was a pho they took with Brian.They then took his face on and pasted in Taylor’s.Why didn’t they just use a photo.with the new band.Their worst alb covers are A Bigger Bang Steel Wheels and Emotional Rescue.

It's hard to say which album cover post Dirty Work is the worst.
I say post Dirty Work, since even though at the time it was one of their worst ever, and it is indeed very ugly, at least it has some "personality" and in a away represents the music which is, to say the least, not their best either. At least it's authentic.
Steel Wheels is just lazy and pointless
Voodoo Lounge is ridiculously childish
Bridges to Babylon is bad taste
A Bigger Bang is embarassing
And any album with just a variation of the Stones tongue logo is so absolutely lazy and void of any creativity that it is even more embarrassing.

In fact, it shouldn't be so hard: any photo of the remaining Stones would be fine. And if not, just a picture of a wall (maybe just a different toilet wall with up-to-date graffiti?) or a dead tree or a Greek statue or an empty plate with the remains of an English breakfast, almost anything would work better than the pseudo-art from the albums mentioned above.
I read somewhere that Charlie used to draw his hotel-rooms. Make a cover out of that.

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georgemcdonnell314
I wonder how the "New Album" thread turned into a discussion of what are the best album covers from the past.

Regardless of how we feel about the covers from the past the band approved them.

All of them have a place in time. There may be reasons none of us know.

The artwork for HACKNEY came up and as things happen here for a page or few the thread strays from its origin - but its beginning in context is indirectly of the thread subject. And it's only slightly off-topic: it's still about The Rolling Stones, regardless of what people think of them regarding who is in the band.