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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Copernicus

Immediate Eternity II

Review by Gary Hill

This album was released before in a very limited run. This is a new reissue designed to get it back into print. It has a different cover, but the music is the same. Since I’ve already reviewed this in the earlier version, I’ll run that review here for the sake of consistency. That follows here:

There are four different versions of this album. In general, they are the same, musically. The difference is, Copernicus vocals which are delivered in different languages. This one is in English. The music, it should be mentioned is more fusion like here. That’s because Copernicus has a different band on this set than on most of his discs. It’s a cool album no matter what language you hear it in.

 

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2014  Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Beautiful Humanity
There’s a real melodic fusion kind of vibe to this. The vocals are distinctly Copernicus.
Balloon Dreams
We get a harder edge, but the general vibe is similar to the opener. I really dig some of the guitar soloing on this beast.
Absolute Truth Is Possible
A bit of a piano solo opens things here and Copernicus’ voice comes over the top of that backdrop as it works into jazzy territory. After a time it powers out into a killer rock groove. Then it drops down to more jazz, though. The rock returns after that short section. There is some serious funk on some of the bass lines and the guitar explodes out into some scorching fusion soloing later. Piano takes over again and it modulates to some weird jazz with Copernicus vocal quite in line with that weirdness of the music.
Free of Me!

Mellow, stripped back music serves as the backdrop for Copernicus’ rants. It’s frantic, crazed and also very cool. We get some hard rocking jamming later that at times calls to mind Pink Floyd. I really dig the melodic, but quite crunchy, guitar solo later in the piece. It’s quite an intriguing ride that glides between nearly metallic rock and fusion.

Dust
The Latin meets classic rock sound that opens this makes me think of Santana. Of course, Copernicus’ vocal brings a completely different vibe to this. The cut evolves into more jazz directions, anyway. There is more scorching guitar work later on this tune.
Feel the Nonexistence
Weird spacey music serves as the backdrop for Copernicus’ recitations. At first he sounds almost sad and despondent. This gets louder and weirder at times, but remains reasonably space rock like throughout its duration.
The Carrot
With a stripped down arrangement, this feels like a great bluesy jazz tune with the Copernicus recitations over the top. Musically this is one of the most accessible and mainstream cuts of the whole set.
The Stick
Frantic fusion makes up the music on this one. It gets rather crazed and dissonant as it continues. This is quite an extensive number and it really rocks out later. There is some serious space rock in the mix later, too. There are parts of this that make me think of Hawkwind a bit.
There Is No Difference
There’s a mellow and mainstream feeling to this one. It’s a bit like jazz meets reggae and rock.
Viva the New!
A gong starts this off. It sounds and fades away. Then it does so again. On the third sounding, other instruments join in sort of a freeform jazz jam. The music is fairly sparse. Copernicus’ voice comes over the top. Then there’s a crescendo after the first spoken section of words. Beyond that, this turns out to hard rocking fusion. It drops to near silence for more vocals and then the band fires back out in more guitar driven fusion. Copernicus comes in over that backdrop and then it drops way down again. This contrast between mellower and harder rocking sounds is great. There are some sections of weird space music later. It shifts to seriously hard-edged music further down the road. There is some jamming later that almost makes me think of Hawkwind a bit. Spacey weirdness takes it near the end and then free form noise jamming is heard.
 
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