Re: Foreplay/Long Time
Hi Bob,Thanks for the kind words about "Foreplay/Long Time." And, if I may, I’d like to offer a couple of addenda:
1. Not many people know it, but "Long Time" is a guitar showcase for Barry Goudreau, the often unmentioned lead guitarist in Boston. All the solos are his. He can coax some amazing noises out of that red Gibson SG.
2. For some reason, I have a very clear memory of recording those handclaps – they were done in the men’s room at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, the last thing to be added to the record before we mixed it at the old Westlake Studio on Wilshire. We put a mic in the stall, ran a line into Studio "C," and Tom, Brad, myself, and anyone else who was handy did the claps, while Warren Dewey recorded them. Great sound in there.
3. The part where "the bass starts to pound" was the part where we edited the two songs together, using the downbeat to mask the cut. The tricky part was making sure that the sustained organ was the same level across the edit.
4. The organ part is quite unique as well – it’s a Lowrey, instead of the more usual Hammond B-3. Tom researched organs and bought that one for various reasons, mostly because of its slightly different sound. It was recorded in his living room on School St. in Watertown.
5. I miss Brad all the time. When the band came to LA for the first time, Brad and his wife stayed with me in Laurel Canyon and I got to know him well. He was a gentle soul, a vegetarian for moral reasons. "I don’t eat anything that has a face," he would say. His favorite food was egg plant pizza from some place on Boston’s North Shore. His favorite singer was Paul McCartney, and he could do an uncanny imitation of him. When I asked him if he wanted to bunk up with me, he sheepishly inquired if I would mind if he watched "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" every night. And he was thrilled when I offered to drive the two of them to see the sights in Hollywood – he had always wanted to see Grauman’s, I’ve been told that Boston has a new lead singer whose voice bears a striking similarity to Brad’s – I don’t think I’m interested in hearing it.
Best regards,
John Boylan
Foreplay/Longtime – original post
