Family Snapshot

"Family Snapshot" was inspired by the book ''An Assassin's Diary, published in 1973 and written by Arthur Bremer, who, on May 15, 1972, attempted to assassinate George Wallace, a Democratic Party politician who supported racial segregation. Gabriel talked about the book in an interview with Sounds'' magazine: Gabriel stated in the introduction to the song during his concert at the Paramount Theatre, Seattle in 1983 that the song is "partly taken from the writings of Arthur Bremer and The Diary of an Assassin and mixed with a few images of Dallas twenty years ago", referring to the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. == Composition ==

The song starts off as a slow, understated piece, where the killer goes through his plan, becoming more intense as the target unwittingly comes closer to the assassin. This section also includes a saxophone solo played by Dick Morrissey. At the song's climax, which features full instrumentation, the assassin rationalises that their decision to carry out the murder will provide them with notoriety. Early tracking was conducted on 28 August 1978 at Trident Studios with members of Gabriel's touring band. The final recording features Gabriel's first use of the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano. Some melodic ideas were recycled from an unreleased song titled "Why Don't We", which Gabriel played on his 1977 concert tour. Gabriel recalled that Hugh Padgham and Fast assisted with the processing of a Prophet synthesizer. "There was a sound I used to like on 'Family Snapshot' which was a small variation on a Prophet noise. It was OK on its own, but it was magical with the processing. And then Hugh Padgham, at that time, made some nice additional stereo imaging and delays, so it was a beautiful swirl sound. In the mix you don't hear it as much, but it's the sort of G minor where the band comes in." When Gabriel's third self-titled album was being sequenced, one of the assistant engineers accidentally cut off the first minute of "Family Snapshot", so Padgham was required to mix the part back in. ==Critical reception==

In his review for Gabriel's 1980 self-titled album, Hugh Fielder of Sounds thought that "Family Snapshot" was a "cool but intimate profile of an assassin at work" and said that the song's tension modulates with "deft control". Graeme Thomson of Uncut characterised the song as a "beautiful three-part epic about an assassin’s craving for notoriety, hot-housed by childhood alienation." Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone was more critical of "Family Snapshot", saying that the song was "off the mark because it lapses into the cheapest sort of Freudianism." == Personnel ==

• Peter Gabriel – vocals; piano • David Rhodes – guitar • Jerry Marotta – drums • Larry Fast – synthesizer • Phil Collins – snare drum • John Giblin – bass • Dave Gregory – guitar • Dick Morrissey – saxophone == References ==