Foreplay/Long Time

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"Foreplay/Long Time" is a song by the rock band Boston, released on the band's eponymous debut album, and as their second single, on Epic Records in 1976. It combines an instrumental introduction, "Foreplay," to the main song "Long Time," generally played as one on the radio and listed as one track on the album. It peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1977, and #11 on the singles chart in the United Kingdom.^[1]

In an interview for the 'Best of Boston' CD, Scholz said that 'Foreplay' was the first thing he ever recorded, and he did this on a two-track machine in his basement.

Content

"Foreplay" is a progressive instrumental prelude, primarily consisting of rapid triplet arpeggios on Hammond M3 organ with a bass part doubled by a clavinet, and drums, with lead guitar joining at the end. According to Tom Scholz, leader and producer of Boston, the synthesizer-like swoops were not produced with synthesizers, but rather by scraping a pick along a string of a guitar. "Long Time" was used as the background music for a series of television commercials, titled "Timeless," for NASCAR in 2004, featuring a hypothetical race between drivers and cars of all eras of NASCAR competition.

"Foreplay/Long Time" is featured as a playable track in the video game Rock Band. It is the final song in the Vocal Solo Tour.

"Foreplay/Long Time" is played during Part 1 of the Season 2 finale of the television show Supernatural.

Personnel

• Tom Scholz - guitars, organ, clavinet; bass on "Long Time"
• Bradley Delp - vocals
• Sib Hashian - drums
• Barry Goudreau - rhythm guitars; lead guitar on "Long Time"
• Fran Sheehan - bass on "Foreplay"

Cover versions

• Rascal Flatts played a cover version of "Foreplay/Long Time" in concert, which was released on the album Rascal Flatts LIVE. ^[2]
• Phish celebrated their first concert at Great Woods in Mansfield, Massachusetts by opening with Foreplay/Long Time. They had covered a bluegrass arrangement earlier in their careers, but this was the first time they played the full electric version that is heard on the album.

References

1. ^ Rock Movers & Shakers by Dafydd Rees & Luke Crampton, 1991 Billboard Books.
2. ^ "Rascal Flatts LIVE" track listing