Klaus Schulze — Body Love 2
As with the other release in MIG’s Schulze reissue series, the disc comes in a four panel digital. And this time around it takes in a reproduction of sensual & moody cover artwork- which features the torso of three topless women bathed purple, orange & red light. The release comes with a 16-page booklet- featuring a red, purple & orange color scheme, and this takes in pictures of Mr. Schulze & his set-up, along with English & German texts talking about Mr. Shulze work in general & the album its self.
The original album took in three tracks, and these where each extra/alternative tracks written for the Body Love soundtrack, but they never got used. And first up is the track “Nowhere – No Here”, this just under twenty-nine-minute track originally took up the first side of vinyl on the vinyl release, and it’s effective if the fairly typical slice of building & mood synth craft from Schulze. It opens with a blend of circling organ-like sustain 'n' hover, moody swoops & wails of electronics, and a growing higher pitched melody line that both wishful sad & slightly eastern. To start with it feels like one could be slowly wondering through a barren yet strange alien desert, get lost in both the melodic lulling & strange wonder of the place. By around the sixth minute, a more constant cymbal-heavy marching drum beat has come into play, and this also sees the addition of more rapid & cascading elector flute-like synth tones, which are all underfed rising synthetic male choirs- all giving the whole thing a very epic feel. At around the fourteen-minute mark, things take another subtle & pacier shift, as we get a tight blend of pulsing & cascading synth textures, and whistling ‘n’ swooping elector horn embellishment
Next, we have the just over fourteen minutes of "Stardance II"- this begins with a blend of pulsing 'n' bright synth note cascading, and sudden skittering percussive hits & darts. By around the 4th minute the pace & the layers of percussion have sped up, and these are now joined by a weaving electro chanter creating bays & spirals- again there’s quite a buoyant yet eastern mystical feel to the track.
Track three comes in the shape of the wonderfully titled “Moogetique”. This just over thirteen-minute track starts with a series of stretching & shifting lows & mids- all suggesting an out-of-shape reality. Fairly soon we get the addition of reverb bound drift 'n' sweeps of cascading piano notation, and space swirls. So instead of building as it progresses it really becomes more atmospheric & pared back, instead of the growing feel of the first two tracks.
So last up we, of course, have the bonus material, and this comes in the just over this just over twenty-three-minute track entitled “Buddy Laugh (A Rock ‘n’ Bolero)”. It starts out Schulze creating this alien flotsam & jetsam like sonic landscape- of electro twitters, chops, stretchers, and swoops. By around the fifth minute, an even & mid-paced cymbal focus rhythm has appeared & this joined elector vibe like sweeps, hints at cold harmonics drifts, and eerier note scuttles- it all nicely ends the album off well, and surprisingly for an add-on/ bonus- it works well within the context of the rest of the album.
Much like the first Body Love album, this second volume is not as important or influential as some of Schulze's other albums from the 70’s. But it does offer up a selection of entrancing synth crafting, that have both an effective atmospheric feel & an often moody harmonic grain.