Journal for Plague Lovers is the ninth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 18 May 2009, and features posthumous lyrics by Richey Edwards, who vanished on 1 February 1995, and was presumed deceased in 2008. It is the only Manic Street Preachers album in which the lyrics for every song were written solely by Edwards.[1] The album cover is an original painting by Jenny Saville, who also contributed artwork for The Holy Bible.
The album is available on CD, a two-disc CD edition, download and LP.[2] The deluxe CD edition includes a second disc with demo versions of all thirteen album songs and a hardback 36-page booklet featuring Edwards' original lyrics and artwork. This version of the album is missing the hidden track \"Bag Lady\". The Japanese edition of the album was released on 13 May 2009, and features two exclusive bonus tracks. The download version includes a bonus remix by the New Young Pony Club and an acoustic version of the title track.
The album's opening track, \"Peeled Apples\", was played for the first time on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 25 March 2009.[citation needed] During an interview with Lowe, Wire said there would be no singles released from the album.[citation needed] \"Jackie Collins Existential Question Time\" was aired on XFM and Kerrang! Radio on 30 March.It was also embedded on the band's official website.
Album cover controversy
The top four UK supermarkets stocked the CD in a plain slipcase, as the cover was deemed \"inappropriate\".[18] Bradfield regards the decision as \"utterly bizarre\", and has commented: \"You can have lovely shiny buttocks and guns everywhere in the supermarket on covers of magazines and CDs, but you show a piece of art and people just freak out.\"
