Foreplay/Long Time

A suite by Scholz that appears as one track on the album. Foreplay is an instrumental that Scholz wrote in 1969, the first piece of music he wrote and the first song he recorded, on a two-track machine in his basement. Long Time is the song that follows. Scholz first sang all the vocals on the demo, but Delp was invited to sing and proved better, and only Delp is heard on the record. Barry Goudreau plays the three electric guitar solos on Long Time. Scholz plays organ, clavinet and lead guitar on Foreplay, put through what the credits call top secret space pedal effects.

Long Time was the second single. It reached number 22 on the Hot 100 in the week ending 5 March 1977 and number nine in Canada. Foreplay on its own was the B-side of Peace of Mind. Paul Elliott ranked it sixth on his list of Boston songs and noted that one critic had called it a perfect marriage of Yes and Led Zeppelin.