MANIC STREET PREACHERS - SUPERMARKETS TO CENSOR MANIC STREET PREACHERS ALBUM COVER

SUPERMARKETS TO CENSOR MANIC STREET PREACHERS ALBUM COVER

The cover of the new Manic Street Preachers album will be censored in supermarkets as its painted artwork has been ruled "inappropriate".

Journal for Plague Lovers, the Welsh band's ninth album, features a portrait by artist Jenny Saville - who painted the cover for the band's album The Holy Bible in 1994 - but will be sold with a plain slip cover in supermarkets.

Representatives of leading supermarket chains have explained they felt customers might be upset by the artwork, which features a smattering of blood.

James Dean Bradfield, lead singer of the Everything Must Go band, said the decision was "utterly bizarre".

"We just thought it was a beautiful painting. We were all in total agreement," he told BBC 6 Music.

"It is her brushwork," he added.

"If you're familiar with her work, there's a lot of ochres and browns and reds and browns and perhaps people are looking for us to be more provocative than we are being.

"We just saw a much more modern version of Lucian Freud-esque brushstrokes. That's all we saw."

Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda confirmed they are to use a plain slip cover for the album, which features lyrics penned by former Manics guitarist Richey Edwards, who disappeared in 1995.

"We felt that some customers might consider this particular album cover to be inappropriate if it were prominently displayed on the shelf," said Sainsburys music buyer Nicola Williamson.

"As such, the album will be sold in a sleeve provided by the publisher."

Bradfield explained the album's artwork was essential to the album and the band had never considered altering it.

"It's the first time ever that we actually feel controlled by the idea, which basically stemmed from Richey's words," he explained.

"So we're not going to censor it or anything, because it is what it is.

"It is bizarre that supermarkets actually think that that's going to impinge on anyone's psyche."