Journal for Plague Lovers Journal for Plague Lovers Journal for Plague Lovers is the ninth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released in May 2009 by record label Columbia. Recorded between October 2008 and February 2009 and produced by Steve Albini and Dave Eringa, it features exclusively posthumous-published lyrics by Richey Edwards, who disappeared 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. The album received a very positive critical reception and debuted at number 3 in the UK
Know Your Enemy (Manic Street Preachers album) debut as a lead vocalist, on the track "Wattsville Blues", and James Dean Bradfield's debut as a lyricist, on "Ocean Spray". Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine plays guitar on the album's final track. The left-wing political convictions of the Manic Street Preachers are apparent in many of the album's songs, such as "Baby Elián" as they comment on the strained relations between the United States and Cuba as seen in the Elián González affair, a hot topic around the album's release. The band also pays tribute to singer and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson in the song "Let Robeson