A Bigger Bang

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Released: 5 September 2005 Recorded: September 2004 - June 2005 Genre: Rock Length: 64:23 Label: Virgin Producer: Don Was and The Glimmer Twins, Matt Clifford

"This is quite a heavy album, but it has a real mix of blues, ballads and rockers. Keith's two tracks are definitely worth a listen."

Recording

Recording began in September 2004, with The Stones re-visiting their stripped-down, garage-like style used in Some Girls or some songs from Tattoo You. The album on a whole is much heavier, but with a healthy mix of blues, ballads and rockers. Ronnie would was absent from some studio sessions, only playing on ten of the sixteen tracks - this resulted in Mick Jagger playing bass on some tracks, a first for the frontman vocalist.

Release & Aftermath

A Bigger Bang was well-received by critics, some acclaiming that it was the Stones's best studio album since Tattoo You in 1981. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the second best album of the year in 2005, and Amazon.com selected it as top of the Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. One song in particular, however, incurred controversy as many saw it as attack on President George W. Bush and the rest of the American government from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. One line of "Sweet Neo Con" reads, "You say you are a patriot
/ I think that you're a crock of shit".

Personnel

The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger - lead and backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and percussion
Keith Richards - guitars, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, backing and lead vocals
Ronnie Wood - guitars
Charlie Watts - drums

Additional musicians
Lenny Castro - percussion
Blondie Chaplin - backing vocals
Matt Clifford - keyboards, string arrangements, and programming
Darryl Jones - bass guitar
Chuck Leavell - keyboards
Don Was - piano

Charts

In the UK the album reached #2 of the Top 75 Albums chart. In the US it reached #3 of The Billboard 200 chart.