BODY LOVE - VOL. 2

Body Love 2, we are told, is not a continuation of Body Love. Body Love, released on Brain/Metronome in February 1977, was recorded as the soundtrack to a porn movie of the same name. Body Love 2, released by Island in December of that same year, had no connection to the movie, although it included either a remix or re-recording of one track from Body Love. For what it's worth, Schulze released his near-masterpiece Mirage between the two Body Love albums.

All of that said, Body Love 2 isn't very different from Body Love. They were mostly recorded in the same studios, performed by Schulze and drummer Harald Großkopf. The structure of the two albums is similar: two tracks in the twelve- to fourteen-minute range and a third approaching a half-hour - - plus a 22-minute (or so) bonus track. The first side of Body Love 2 is occupied by the tour-de-force "Nowhere - Now Here," while the flip side is comprised by "Stardancer II" and "Moogetique." "Buddy Laugh (A Rock'n'Roll Bolero)," included in recent CD releases as a bonus track, was recorded at the same time as the other pieces.

"Moogetique" might be the brooding brother of "Blanche" from the first Body Love. But whereas "Blanche" had some hopeful chords, over which Schulze played his typical synth noodling, the similarly rhythmless "Moogetique" gains its motion from more frequent chord changes; the whole piece is background, so to speak, without a lead part. And whereas it'd be reasonable to expect "Buddy Laugh" to resemble Body Love's bonus track "Lasse Braun," there are relatively few similarities. Both are rhythmic tracks, but Großkopf provides the rhythm for "Buddy Laugh," while "Lasse Braun" derives its rhythm from a sequencer. "Buddy Laugh" is also played at a noticeably higher tempo.

"Nowhere - Now Here" is the main attraction here. It's among Schulze's finest pieces, ranking just below "Totem" (Picture Music, 1973), "Ludwig von Bayern" (X, 1979), and the Cyborg bonus track "But Beautiful," which was recorded during the same period as Body Love 2. "Nowhere" builds from an atmospheric backing over which Schulze plays a slow lead. By the five-minute mark, a sequencer rhythm asserts itself, and at six minutes Großkopf enters with a very basic beat. A second lead accompanies the first and by 8:00 the form of the piece is established, the main variation being occasional chord changes. A few spacey sound effects are thrown in here and there. Then, right before 14:00, the instrumentation and tempo change. The sound effects become more prevalent - - or at least louder. Over the next few minutes, the instrumentation returns to its former state, although the new rhythm persists. At about 17:40, a new sequence is added: one that should be familiar to Schulze listeners as similar to one on "Bayreuth Return" (Timewind, 1975) and on "Crystal Lake" from Mirage. This morphs, becoming softer and fading away as Großkopf becomes more demonstrative. There's a part around 22:30 that sounds like the eventual end of the song, but over the next minute, Großkopf comes to the fore with a double-bass-drum pattern; by this time, he has completely replaced the sequencers as the source of the rhythm. Soon Schulze returns with one of his trademark leads as Großkopf increases the tension with a series of snare rolls over the insistent bass-drum pattern. This gives way to louder synth pads. The lead part continues unabated as sequencer patterns re-assert themselves over the final two minutes. The sound effects also return, as does the snare, as the tension continues - - and with a slight increase in volume, the track ends abruptly.

With Mirage and X, Body Love 2 is part of Schulze's best three-album sequence. I'd recommend it to any fan of ambient or electronic-progressive music, and to anyone new to Schulze. Given the expansiveness of his catalog, and the diversity of his styles over the past fifty years, Body Love 2 is as good as any place to start investigating his music.