with just the core band of Jagger, Richards and Watts. Ronnie Wood was absent from many sessions, playing on only ten of the sixteen tracks, with only occasional contributions from outside musicians comprising the recording of the album. This is also the first album where Jagger plays bass guitar on some tracks. The Stones said in a statement that the album's title reflects "their fascination with the scientific theory about the origin of the universe." Writing and recording Songs for A Bigger Bang were composed by Jagger and Richards in June 2004 at Jagger's chateau in Pocé-sur-Cisse, France. At the château, they learned of Charlie Watts' throat cancer diagnosis and debated about postponing the writing, but ultimately went ahead after determining that Watts was not required to be present until later. As a result of this, Jagger played the drums during early guide track recordings; all but one of these was later rerecorded by Watts, but Jagger's beat remained. Jagger and Richards shared bass and guitar parts between them. The album was produced by Don Was and the sound engineering was done by Krish Sharma. Mixing for the album was performed by Jack Joseph Puig and Dave Sardy. Release and reception The first single, "Streets of Love"/"Rough Justice", reached No. 15 in the UK singles chart, while A Bigger Bang peaked at No. 2 on the UK charts. Another song, "Sweet Neo Con", was critical of the conservative Christian movement in American politics. In August 2005, the Rolling Stones embarked on the 90-show A Bigger Bang Tour in support of the album. It was met with sold-out tickets at every destination, usually within minutes of going on sale. The tour was extended into 2007 because Richards got hurt falling out of a tree in Fiji and required surgery in New Zealand. The tour concluded in August 2007 at the O2 Arena in London. Critical reaction was mostly positive. The aggregate score of the album by Metacritic was rated 73 out of 100, categorizing the reviews as "generally favourable". A Bigger Bang was touted as the best Rolling Stones album in years. Nevertheless, all of the Stones albums since 1989's Steel Wheels had been similarly lauded, and many critics and fans felt that the Stones had yet to record a late-period album truly up to their high standards. It was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005,