10 Manic Street Preachers Hidden Gem Songs

Another banging opening track, this time from 2009's Journal For Plague Lovers. The chorus' melody sounds suspiciously like a certain Heaven 17 hit but Richey's lyrics, Nicky's grimy bass line and James' howling voice have never sounded so haunted.

Journal For Plague Lovers' lyrics were taken from Richey Edwards' notebook, discovered after his disappearance, and, following him being declared legally dead in 2008, the band decided to dust them off and make, what they described, as a middle-aged follow-up to their 1995 album The Holy Bible. You can certainly hear that they achieved their goal, and Peeled Apples, more than any other track on the record feels like a segue from one to the other.

Some argued at the time that the album was a cynical attempt to cash-in on Edwards' legacy, but those curmudgeonly types were missing the point. The band were paying tribute to their comrade at a time when they finally had to admit that he had, indeed, fallen.

Any previous mentions of Richey in Wire's lyrics were more-often-that-not denied by him and, amazingly, this record was the first time that the Manics had paid tribute to him in such an open way. It took them 14 years but, evidently it was worth the wait.