Manic Street Preachers "you can draw some pretty obvious conclusions from the lyrics." Wire, who admitted finding the task of editing this song "pretty choking", eventually composed the music and sang lead vocals after Bradfield found himself unsuited to the task. Bradfield commented that "Journal for Plague Lovers" was an attempt to finally secure the legacy of their former member Richey Edwards and the result was that, during the recording process, it was as close to feeling his presence since his disappearance: "There was a sense of responsibility to do his words justice. That was part of the whole thing of letting enough
Manic Street Preachers made available on iTunes from 5 March 2008. Despite being chart-eligible (it reached number 47 in the UK), the release was not intended as an official single. Two further versions (the Acoustic and Grand Slam mixes) were later made available on iTunes and now comprise a three-track "Umbrella EP". James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire contributed an original song, "The Girl from Tiger Bay", to Shirley Bassey's 2009 studio album, "The Performance"." Manic Street Preachers' music has been variously described as alternative rock, hard rock punk rock, glam rock, and pop rock. According to their AllMusic biography, the band were