Klaus Schulze Body Love Vol 2 Reissue CD/ 4 tracks/ time 79.33mins

Somewhere on the outer spiral arm of a galaxy we refer to as the Milky Way Klaus Schulze reissues another album from his sizeable back catalogue of work. Orbiting the sun at approximately nineteen miles per second, some thirty thousand light years from Galactic Central Point we find that this new release on planet Earth is now 30 years old!!! The planet itself rotating on an independent axis at almost nine hundred miles an hour and we find.....................well we find that maybe Klaus was right to dismiss all this 'cosmic' babble when discussing his music. Time to lighten up and get down to the brass tacks of reviewing this new 'old' recording. The good news - 'Body Love 2' is at long last with us; it's hard to believe that the recording was made three decades ago now, still sounding like an album that could have been recorded yesterday. The bad news - it's also now the album that represents the last reissue in the series of Klaus' 70's output - a period l think many of you will agree was a classic time not only for Schulze, but for electronic music generally. Musically 'Body Love 2' is cut from very much the same cloth as that of the original 'Body Love' album released almost a year earlier. It's not necessarily a return to porno valley soundtrack Ville for Schulze,( the only real connection between volumes 1 and 2 being the 'Stardancer' track that was remixed for this release). The dynamic of the 'Body Love 2' album is very much in keeping with the trend set by volume one with an emphasis on the upbeat,( Klaus of course being ably assisted by Harald Grosskopf on drums throughout). The reissue comes to us now in the now mandatory gatefolded card clipcase featuring all the original artwork inlaid with high gloss transfers on the detail. Again a 16 page, photo strewn full colour booklet is included with a brief write up from Schulze about the circumstances surrounding the making of the album, together with further specific technical footnotes from Klaus D. Mueller. On this occasion we are treated to a twenty three minute plus bonus track - and again it's one of those tracks that really help's lift the album, read on..... 'Nowhere - Now Here'(28.55).....such a great title!!! Klaus opens up the set with a less is more approach to the music in the initial stages of the piece, white noise and twittering effects over a simple organlike drone that he solo's over in a measured fashion. Afew minutes later and the inevitable arpeggiator comes into play with a rather lethargic and again quite simplistic two note sequence - nothing ground breaking or different here. Grosskopf's drums soon come into the mix sounding alittle laboured when coupled with the laid back pace. Then at the seven minute mark a chord change lift's the whole piece, Mellotron choirs shift undiscernibly around the mix and the soloing takes on a whole new intensity that'll have you glued to your hi fi as this electronic procession progresses. At the fourteen minute mark Klaus switches up a gear or two, the arpeggiator keeping time at twice the speed as the wonderfully smooth soloing continues unabated. Grosskopf's drumming by this time also becoming less regimented and more fluid, tron' choirs filling out the foreground of the mix. Things peter out by the twenty second minute,( which is unfortunate as Harald is really in the swing of things by now). The piece reaches it's conclusion as the choirs and drums return in force, everything coming to a rather sudden end with an expectant flourish. 'Stardancer II'(14.12); okay not much l can add to this one that wasn't in the original review for the track back on the 'Body Love' reissue,(refer back to that one if really stumped). To outline the track once again it's simply a big intro followed by Klaus soloing over a rather basic sequence with Harald on the drums - all rather upbeat, a pretty fine track all said and done. What we actually have here with 'Stardancer II' is a total remix of that original track. The introduction has been sharpened up alittle,( some of the originals more dissonant modular noises and FX are mixed out completely). This time the track has been given more top end EQ which brings out the sound of the Moog solo's, but most significantly the drums are put up higher in the overall mix so that we can really hear what Mr. Grosskopf is up to. I think you'll also find that there are several new synth FX fluttering around in the background. I don't believe that these were new additions dubbed in for this release, but were merely FX recorded first time around on spare channels, but never used - and with hindsight a year down the line they were added back in. This version being thirty seconds longer than the original, this is wholly due to the fact that this time the track fades gently to a close rather than the abrupt end experienced first time around. 'Moogetique'(13.10) is pretty much what 'Blanche' was to the original 'Body Love' album. All manner of esoteric phased and skewed weirdness over a gentle soundbed of delayed and reversed piano work,( l'm almost tempted to dig out the old vinyl's of both albums and play 'Moogetique' backwards just to see if it's the same treated piano tape that was used on 'Blanche' - there you go folks, something to try out over the holiday season!!!). Only the slightest hint of synthetic strings leads us to any kind of soloing from Klaus here. The simple truth being that the track is all so impressionistic and obscure it's probably best left to the wildly phased, sometimes sinister sounding atmosphere's created to do the talking as we veer ever closer to a sound which matured on the following years 'X' album. Moving swiftly onto the twenty three minute bonus track,'Buddy Laugh( a rock n' role bolero)' - this is just brilliant, it's a leftover recording from the 'Body Love' sessions featuring Klaus and Harald doing a practice run through the piece that would finally become 'Nowhere - Now Here'( though it has to be said that other than the odd prepared sequence there's very little by way of similarities between to two pieces). Klaus opens up with a completely different improvised introduction with a swathe of white noise and synth FX. Add to that a phased Mellotron choir and you have all the majesty that Klaus could summon from the equipment available, Mr. Froese stand aside!!! The drums arrive keeping perfect time at the six minute mark, then at nine minutes we go off on one - pure improvisation, but strangely enough its Grosskopf's drumming skills that really carry the day. Klaus programming 'on the fly' mucking around with all manner of oscillation via the various synths, but wow, what a drummer!!! 'Nowhere - Now Here' this is not - the sound is much more stripped back, but the track is so much the better for it. If Harald ever had to establish his superb drumming credentials then this is the track where it's all happening. Fabulous. And so ends the album - for those of you choosing to dismiss the album as a cobbled together rerun of the original 'Body Love' LP, think again. Fair enough Klaus presents nothing fundamentally new this time around and by his own admission in the sleevenotes he kind of compounds that fact. He instead delivers a made to measure tour de force performance that is outrageously good!!! Schulze does everything here that any self respecting synth fan might have hoped for without putting a foot wrong and with the additional bonus track this album is something else!!! (B22)

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