The band's record label selected the song to be released as the album's lead single in the United States.
[7] Following Kirwan's death in 2018, McVie identified "Sands of Time" as a "killer song" along with "Woman of 1000 Years", which was also from Future Games.
[11] Billboard highlighted "Sands of Time" in its "Special Merit Spotlight" section of the publication and characterised it as "a smooth rock ballad that offers much for top 40, FM and the charts.
[13] In their book, Fleetwood Mac: Rumours n' Fax, Roy Carr and Steve Clarke stated that the song was an unusual choice for a single and resembled some of the music from The Byrds.
They found the song to be "remotely pleasant" but were critical of Kirwan's "frail" vocals and "mundane" guitar riff that failed to deliver a "strong hook".