Let's Just Be
Let's Just Be is the sixth studio album by Joseph Arthur, and his first with his backing band The Lonely Astronauts. The album was released on April 17, 2007 in the US, and on September 3, 2007 in the UK. According to Arthur: "the philosophy of the whole record was sort of a letting go, that's why I called it "Let's Just Be", because it was like everything about that record [came from] a Zen-like approach. Just letting things be how they are." "Let's Just Be" was released seven months after  his previous album, "Nuclear Daydream". The band recorded the album in a quick stint while touring in Southern California in 2006 at Mathias Schneeberger's studio. Arthur notes that: "the idea for us was to record all of these new songs straight to tape using only 16 tracks with no reverb, sort of a back to basics like how the Stones or Neil Young used to record. These albums are really a band effort, there was a lot of collaboration in the studio and quite a few songs on the album were co-writes." There is a standard edition and  a special edition (featuring different artwork) of the album available (in the US only, released on May 15, 2007). The album version of "Diamond Ring" is featured as the B-side to the UK single of "Enough to Get Away," released August 27, 2007. The album version of "Take Me Home" is featured as the B-side to the single of "Honey and the Moon," released March 26, 2007. Demos. In December 2006, 14 new songs (recorded with the Lonely Astronauts) were placed on Joseph's website, available for free download or with a donation. The 14 tracks comprised the  original track listing for "Let's Just Be" in this order: