The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two

{{Infobox album

| name = The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two

| type = Studio album

| artist = Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra

| cover = SunRaTheHeliocentricWorldsofSunRaVol2.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1966

| recorded = November 16, 1965

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Free jazz

| length = 36:45

| label = ESP-Disk

| producer =

| prev_title = The Magic City

| prev_year = 1965

| next_title = Nothing Is

| next_year = 1966

}}

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = Allmusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r148332|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]

| rev2 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| rev2Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite book

|editor-last=Swenson

|editor-first=J.

| author-link =

| year = 1985

| title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

|url=https://archive.org/details/rollingstonejazz00swen

|url-access=registration

| publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone

| location = USA

| isbn = 0-394-72643-X

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/rollingstonejazz00swen/page/186 186]

}}

|rev3 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

|rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=1357}}

}}

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two is a 1965 recording by the jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Where Volume One of the Heliocentric Worlds series had predominantly featured short abstract pieces, Volume Two features longer pieces{{cite book|last=Jost|first=Ekkehard|title=Studies in Jazz Research: Free Jazz|year=1975|publisher=Universal Edition|isbn=3-7024-0013-3|pages=187–189}} performed by a smaller group,{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18845|title=CD/LP/Track Review: Sun Ra: Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1 & 2|last=Butters|first=Rex|date=4 September 2005|publisher=All About Jazz|accessdate=8 January 2012|archive-date=5 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105030135/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18845|url-status=live}} making it closer in spirit to the contemporaneous The Magic City, released on Ra's own Saturn label. The record has been widely bootlegged, some versions of which were retitled The Sun Myth.

The album was re-released on CD by ZYX-Music (ESP 1017–2) in the 1990s.

The songs

"The Sun Myth" is constructed around the intertwining of Ronnie Boykins's bowed bass and Ra's electronic keyboard. These predominantly low sounds contrast sharply with the interlude commentaries from the other Arkestra members. A rare alternative version – also on ESP, and with the same catalogue number – overlays African singing at the beginning and end of the piece.{{Cite web |title=R Campbell's Sun Ra discography |url=http://homepage.uab.edu/moudry/disc_b.htm#28 |access-date=2021-02-04 |website=www.uab.edu |archive-date=2010-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316044924/http://homepage.uab.edu/moudry/disc_b.htm#28 |url-status=dead }}

"A House of Beauty" is a feature for piccolo, keyboards and bowed bass, which transforms into a piano and plucked bass duet.

"Cosmic Chaos" is an example of the apparently free but actually conducted blowing for which the Arkestra would become known over the following decades.

The sleeve design

The sleeve, designed by Paul Frick, features a German astronomical chart of the Solar System. Beneath it, Frick has placed Sun Ra within a pantheon of astronomers and scientists including Tycho Brahe, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo and Pythagoras.