Let's Just Be
3 1/2 stars

Singer/songwriter on the verge of a nervous breakthrough

OK, the 2007 Ryan Adams Overprolific Songwriter Contest is on - and Joseph Arthur is off to a strong start. Less than seven months since Nuclear Daydream, Arthur plans two releases. Sixteen tunes take shape as Let's Just Be, a chaotic mix of gorgeous T. Rex acoustic reveries ("Gimme Some Company," "I Will Carry It"), cheeky Stones-inflected rockers ("Diamond Ring") and studio-jam goofiness (20 minutes - 20 minutes! - of "Lonely Astronaut"). Placing "Lonely Astronaut" in the dead middle of the album won't do much for your patience, but it demonstrates Arthur's current looseness. The man's a double album in action.

Writer: Rob O'Connor, Issue 30
(from Paste Magazine)

This week's new album preview (and catch-up)

Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts/Let's Just Be (out Apr. 17): I generally find him interesting, but this time he really tested my patience -- there's one song that lasts half past eternity and a few misguided, rough-edged, punkish tunes that are among the worst I've heard from him. But there are a few gems that are worth hearing -- you just have to sift through a lot to get to them.

By Ken Barnes - March 01, 2007
(from USATODAY.com)

Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts
Let's Just Be
Lonely Astronaut/Indica

Arthur's been his own best friend, thanks to his overdub expertise. So why hire a gang of interlopers? The galactic thrill of Spaceman provides the answer: There are places a man can't travel to alone. An often ragged, always vibrant sound pours out of Arthur's motley crew, and their leader has never sounded more liberated. The price of liberation is self-indulgence: There's a fine line between Arthur's intuitive skills and a frustratingly casual approach that devalues his career's new chapter (the 20-minute track Lonely Astronaut includes 12 superfluous minutes of mantras and noodling). With at least a half-dozen prime jewels unveiled a mere seven months after his last album (the harrowing Nuclear Daydream), Arthur's bouts of Dumpster-diving only tarnish his crown. Rating: 3 1/2

Jordan Zivitz, Published: Thursday, April 12, 2007
(from The Montreal Gazette)

Sound Bites, Published: April 12, 2007

Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts, Let's Just Be (Lonely Astronaut Records).
Either Arthur has just discovered hallucinogens or he's found a non-pharmaceutical way of temporarily losing his mind. Let's Just Be is easily his most unhinged disc -- a thoroughly enjoyable retro freakout replete with glittery glam ("Diamond Ring," "Cockteeze"), bizarre novelties ("Shake It Off") and schizoid opuses (the twenty-minute-plus "Lonely Astronaut"). I'll have what he's having. -- Michael Roberts

(from Denver Westword)

Arthur once again seeks his own orbit

*** (aka "good")

Another title that twists a classic pop reference (Arthur's 2002 album was "Redemption's Son") and another Arthurian application of pretzel logic to classic pop traditions. But might surrounding himself with a six-strong support crew rein in some of this often-lone astronaut's more indulgent, introspective tendencies? The album certainly starts on a relatively straight-ahead note with the shambling, Stones-y "Diamond Ring." But never fear: The next song, "Good Life," begins with sloshing-water sounds and ends with a snort and a scream.

Even that doesn't prepare one for the theme song, "Lonely Astronaut," the 20-minute centerpiece of this sprawling 78-minute epic. The track starts innocently enough, on the quieter end of the rough-hewn American scale covering most of the album. But then it churns into increasing intensity and ultimately chaos, out of which a little repeating pattern emerges. It's as if the song got hiccups and can't shake them. For about eight minutes.

Still, even that carries the album's casual feel, a down-to-earth tone that grounds even such otherworldly highlights as the Bowie-referencing "Spaceman" and the closing, melancholy raga-folk "Star Song." It's the natural setting for the coed Astronauts, whose members' past credits include the Jayhawks, Natalie Merchant and the Twilight Singers. Some more outré passages could have benefited from mad-scientist tinkering. But the mad-Mick Jagger that Arthur affects on the nasty "Cocaine Feet" and elsewhere is still nicely twisted. — Steve Hochman

(from L.A. Times)

Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts – Let’s Just Be (Indica)
Joseph Arthur has always lived under the radar of mainstream ears for the bulk of his already-formidable career. Maybe in the hopes of changing this, he attempts to re-invent himself as a nouveau rocker with his new baby, throwing to the wind much of the nuances and charm that peppered his earlier cosmic folkie work. Backed by his new band The Lonely Astronauts, Arthur and co. ramble through seventy-plus minutes of mostly bluesy rock and roll under the guidance of the leader’s raspy whisky strains. A handful of acoustic beauties take us back to days of old, but overall, a little disappointment seizes the day. April 15th at La Tulipe. (Steve Guimond) 3/5

(from nightlifemagazine.ca)

On Disc
JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE LONELY ASTRONAUTS ****
Let's Just Be (Lonely Astronaut)

It's worth hearing this album, if only for the 20-minute sonic journey called “Lonely Astronaut.” (And if you don't like the term “sonic journey,” this probably isn't the album for you.) Known for wowing jaded music fans with his one-man show, Arthur has recently picked up a band of Lonely Astronauts. With 80 songs recorded in just three weeks (16 of which made the final cut), the effort is collaborative but the genius is all Arthur's, and his raspy voice leads the charge. Sometimes the songs are perfectly crafted; others deteriorate into messy rhythms. Grand choruses, quiet yearning, flat-out raucous jamming – it all sounds like it was recorded at 5am in a kitchen after a long, loud night at the bar. But Arthur makes Let's Just Be work even when it sounds one note shy of entirely unravelling – which is, of course, what makes it so compelling.

HANNAH SUNG
(from Eye Weekly, Toronto)

Posted on Sun, Apr. 15, 2007
Joseph Arthur explores new space with band, the Lonely Astronauts

LET'S JUST BE
Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts
Lonely Astronaut Records

By Malcolm X Abram, Beacon Journal music writer

For most of his five-album, 10-year career, singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur has been a purveyor of soft, very melodic, seemingly intimate and mournful songs that often sound like they were recorded alone in a candlelit studio.

But since guitarist Kraig Jarret Johnson, formerly of beloved roots-rockers the Jayhawks and Golden Smog, joined Arthur's touring band, Arthur has been indulging his inner Glimmer Twin. Anyone who has caught the Firestone High grad's last few gigs in his hometown have surely noticed the infusion of rock and the loose bar band/'70s Stones vibe that permeates his group, the Lonely Astronauts. (He has upcoming dates in Cleveland and Akron.)

Come Tuesday, that vibe will have a record to go with it in Let's Just Be. Arthur has stressed that Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts is an actual band effort. He and Johnson share songwriting credits on six of the lengthy disc's 16 cuts, with ex-Natalie Merchant guitarist Jennifer Turner contributing the acoustic Gimme Some Company. And unlike Arthur's carefully constructed efforts, the band-produced record has a straight-to-tape feel and many sonic loose ends, such as studio chatter and obvious mistakes that are left unclipped.

The album's intent is made clear from the first two tracks: Diamond Ring, a laid-back slice of bluesy bar rock with Arthur and the band indulging in sloppy harmonies; and Good Life, arguably the hardest rocking song Arthur has ever recorded, which finds him cutting loose with yelps and screams over a boogalooing tambourine and chromatic power chords. He mimics Mick Jagger's swaggering falsetto on the short and sweet rocker Cockteeze, and the plodding, fuzzed-out Cocaine Feet reaches for and nearly achieves the visceral thump of the Stooges' Fun House.

While the informal feel lends the album a sense of fun, it also gives the band license to indulge too much. The 20-minute Lonely Astronaut starts as a familiar, low-key acoustic song that builds to a rocking crescendo, before being interrupted by an awkward riff that turns into an 11-minute jam/endurance test. It may have been great fun for the band to perform, but the average listener is unlikely to make it through the song more than once.

Fans of the intimate, lone-troubadour side of Arthur won't be completely alienated; the sweet Precious One features some supple slide work from Turner, and both the waltz-time Chicago and Lack of Vision are midtempo roots tunes that should warm the ears of fans.

Arthur is already a prolific songwriter and now with his own label (Lonely Astronaut Records, detecting the theme yet?) and his band, he has another outlet for both his songs and his inner rock star.

Placed next to the rest of his catalog, Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts sounds like a fun side project, the kind of record his fans will happily buy and listen to a few times before going back to their favorite Arthur solo record.

Taken on its own, Arthur has obviously been energized by Johnson's presence, and the still-young songwriting partnership certainly shows promise. But occasionally, Let's Just Be gets bogged down by its own "anything goes'' vibe.

(from Akron Beacon Journal)

Let's Just Be - JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE LONELY ASTRONAUTS
Producer(s): Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts
Genre: ROCK, Label: Lonely Astronaut

Fewer than seven months after his album "Nuclear Daydream," singer/songwriter Arthur is back with a collection of rough-edged rock songs, recorded with his new band, the Lonely Astronauts. It's quite a makeover for Peter Gabriel's protégé, who is known for his labyrinthine vocal harmonies and dark, introspective, acoustic-based songs. More outgoing than ever, he now screams and shouts in a throaty falsetto, fronting a band fluent in classic rock, glam and punk. Opener "Diamond Ring" is a bright and bouncy retro-rocker, and the Bowie-esque standout "Spaceman" sends Arthur's trademark harmonies over heavy power chords. The record has the rawness and immediacy of a live performance, and no doubt Arthur and his band are enjoying themselves (how else to explain the 20-minute "Lonely Astronaut"?). There are fewer memorable moments here than on his solo albums, but it's still nice to hear him taking risks. —Sven Philipp

(from Billboard)

Diamant brut

Let’s Just Be - Joseph Arthur & Al. ***

On a à peine digéré l’excellent Nuclear Daydream que Joseph Arthur remet ça, cette fois en compagnie de ses Lonely Astronauts. Avec Let’s Just Be, le talenteux artiste arrive avec un diamant brut, enregistré presque entièrement live en studio, sans fioritures. C’est cru, c’est sale, c’est mordant, c’est touchant. La formule donne lieu à des moments magiques, qu’il s’agisse de ces ballades acoustiques dont Arthur a le secret, ou de rock décapant, parfois voisin des Rolling Stones. On raconte que le chanteur est sorti tellement emballé de ses trois semaines d’enregistrement qu’il compte en tirer un autre CD, à paraître plus tard cette année. On s’en inquiète un peu, car les 80 minutes de Let’s Just Be auraient gagné à être réduites à 60, pour qu’on n’en conserve que la substantifique moelle. Une fois passé la (trop) longue Lonely Astronaut, l’album s’égare dans plusieurs directions et offre des pistes inégales. Une cuvée diluée, donc, mais loin d’être dénuée d’intérêt.
Nicolas Houle

(from Le Soleil, Quebec)

....
ALSO IN STORES. Joseph Arthur's ambitious, aggressively catchy rocker "Let's Just Be" (Lonely Astronaut; grade: A-)
....
Glenn Gamboa, April 17 2007
(from Newsday)

7.5/10

"Unfortunately, Arthur drags his backing players through a good deal of hoarsely hollered filler between [the] peaks."

from Entertainment Weekly, 20 Apr 2007, p.62

Great taste, but less filling

Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts
Let's Just Be
Essential: "Good Life"

The warning came when Arthur, a songwriting master who often works alone, raved about recording 80 tunes with his band, the Lonely Astronauts. We’re going to put out two albums this year, he told interviewers. As the laws of quantitative rockology (see: Adams, Ryan) have taught us, more is usually less. And ‘‘Let’s Just Be’’ is no exception. Clocking in at almost 80 minutes, what the record needed was a villainous record company wonk demanding cuts. Those hoping for a disc that matches 2006’s stunning ‘‘Nuclear Daydream’’ or my favorite Arthur album, 2002’s ‘‘Redemption’s Son,’’ will be disappointed. Arthur has checked his Nick Drake at the studio door. He’s thrilled to have a band, and not about to waste it on brooding meditations of love and loss. He’s also proud to have recorded with few, if any, overdubs, the ultimate buzzkill in the jam-band universe. Fair enough. But the result is a wildly uneven record. As you’re drowning in the dreck — at 20 minutes and 33 seconds, ‘‘Lonely Astronaut,’’ which invokes the worst of Primus, the Doors, and Dave Matthews, is a prime offender — it’s easy to lose sight of the deliciously danceable title track and the electric-guitar groove of the record’s opening tracks, ‘‘Diamond Ring’’ and ‘‘Good Life.’’

(from Boston Globe)

2.5 / 5

Now that he has his own studio and label, Joseph Arthur must feel a lot of freedom when it comes to recording material, and this newfound liberation is most certainly evidenced on Let's Just Be, his second release on Lonely Astronaut. The album has the feel of an improvisational session, as if Arthur called up his band late one night, asked them to bring their instruments, showed them the sketches of 16 songs he'd been working on, and then told them to play (the occasional spoken direction of "then we go into a verse" only helps this theory along). Now, Arthur is a talented enough writer that Let's Just Be doesn't exactly end in disaster, but there's an air of sloppy experimentation, of demos and B-sides and other things that probably won't interest more than the heartiest fan. That's not to say that there aren't some worthwhile tracks here -- the sad and lovely "Take Me Home," the poetic "Chicago" -- but unfortunately, these are few and far between the Mick Jagger-esque falsetto screeching, the cocky '70s-rock guitars, the repetitive lines of songs like "Shake It Off," "Diamond Ring," or "Let's Just Be." Arthur spends more of his time meandering around different riffs and rhymes (like in the excruciating "Lonely Astronaut," which clocks in at 20 minutes, at least a quarter of which is an acoustic guitar layered with emerging and disappearing instruments, the word "I" sung continuously on the fourth beat). Unlike another prolific writer, Ryan Adams, who at least had the good sense to limit the accessibility of his wanderings to his website, and for free, Arthur is packaging his as a legitimate album. This may be creatively beneficial for him, and it may be a necessary part of his composition process, but for those not involved, not only is it not enlightening, it's not particularly interesting, either.

from AllMusic.com

Joseph Arthur and the lonely Astronauts
Let's Just Be

Let's Just Be is the perfect example of pop gone wrong. Joseph Arthur had previously distinguished himself as a talented singer-songwriter and critic's darling on albums like the excellent Our Shadows Will Remain. Let's Just Be, however, is a disjointed, overlong mess that tries to do too much and fails miserably in the process.

Things start off strong. Opener "Diamond Ring" is an old-fashioned rock song reminiscent of the Stones. The second track, "Good Life," starts to throw up red flags, though, employing a minute-long intro of strange water sounds over incoherent mumbling, before finally starting off another decent retro rock offering. The rest of the album goes back and forth between soft acoustic numbers, decent pop rock attempts and vexing, failed deviations into Tom Waits-style experimentalism. The worst of this last category is a ten-minute-long song outro. It grates the ears and, awkwardly placed halfway through the record's massive 80-minute length, kills the album's momentum. Arthur should probably stick to what he's good at-brevity.

"Let's Just Be" is the last thing Arthur's producers and managers should have said. The album would have been vastly improved with some judicious cutting. This record is perhaps half an hour of worthwhile recordings spread far, far too thin.

- Rafael Garcia, Issue date: 4/12/07
(from 34th Street/The Daily Pennsylvanian)