The Transit of Venus Across the Sun

Spawton wrote it, and it runs 7:20 on Wikipedia and 7:18 on MusicBrainz. It was not a single and had no official video. The studio version also appears on Summer's Lease and a Prog readers' sampler. Brad Birzer of Progarchy wrote that the brass is melancholic for roughly the first ninety seconds, Longdon sings pleadingly about Venus and a staccato vocal harmony at the midpoint works as a chant; Bryan Morey called it sheer BBT brilliance, with amazing vocal harmonies and outstanding work from the brass band. A Progarchives user review calls it dull. Progradar summarizes the song as an astronomer who, after losing the love of his life, turns his sights to the stars. Another reviewer summary ties it to the astronomer Patrick Moore, which we could not verify, and we found no Spawton statement on its subject.

Live versions are on Merchants of Light (2018, from Cadogan Hall in 2017), on Summer Shall Not Fade (from Loreley in 2018) and on Are We Nearly There Yet? Live Around the World. They played it at Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana on April 2, 2025 with Bravin on vocals, which Morey called a deep cut. We could not get a setlist.fm count and found no covers or samples.