How The Rolling Stones cut 'A Bigger Bang' live in a French farmhouse with almost no overdubs

For their 2005 album A Bigger Bang, the Stones ditched the big studios and set up at La Fourchette, a converted farmhouse in the Loire Valley. Producer Don Was wanted to capture what the band sounded like in a room together, so they played live, with Jagger’s vocals bleeding into the drum mics and no separation. Most tracks are first or second takes.

The result is a record that feels raw and immediate—no click tracks, no layered guitars, just the five of them (including Charlie Watts) bashing it out. Was later said the goal was “to make a record that felt like a band playing,” and they succeeded. Even the ballads, like “Streets of Love,” were cut live with minimal fixes afterward.