Final Exam (album)
Final Exam is a 1978 album by Loudon Wainwright III. It was re-released on Telarc in 2006 at the time of his European tour as a double-disk album, coupled with his 1976 album T Shirt.
| Final Exam | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1978 | |||
| Studio | MZH Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Producer | John Lissauer | |||
| Loudon Wainwright III chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    link |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+[1] |
The backing band were Slow Train; consisting of John Crowder, Richard Crooks, Ron Getman, Glen Mitchell and Stephen Tubin.
At this point in his career, Wainwright was including a lot of electric and rockier songs. After poor reviews of T-Shirt and Final Exam the latter became his last studio album for five years. He emerged, reborn as an acoustic writer backed by acoustic folk/rock musicians. He disowned Final Exam in an Australian radio interview in the early 1990s, but changed his mind and embraced it (and T-Shirt) according to the liner notes to the 2006 release.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Loudon Wainwright III
- "Final Exam"
- "Mr. Guilty"
- "Penpal Blues"
- "Golfin' Blues"
- "The Heckler"
- "Natural Disaster"
- "Fear with Flying"
- "Heaven and Mud"
- "Two-song Set"
- "Pretty Little Martha"
- "Watch Me Rock, I'm Over Thirty"
Personnel
- Loudon Wainwright III - guitar, vocals
- Slow Train
- Ron Getman - steel guitar, guitar, vocals
- John Crowder - bass, vocals
- Glen Mitchell - keyboards, vocals
- Stephen Tubin - keyboards
- Richard Crooks - drums, percussion
with:
- Arlen Roth - slide guitar
- John Hall - guitar
- Eric Weissberg - banjo
- Errol "Crusher" Bennett - percussion
- Kenny Kosek - violin
- John Lissauer - clarinet
- Hugh McCracken - guitar
- Larry Packer - violin
- The Roches - backing vocals
- Technical
- Harvey Hoffman - recording and mixing engineer
- Peter Cunningham - cover photography
Release history
- LP: Arista AB4173 (U.S.)
- LP: Arista SPART1042 (UK)
- LP: Poopik Productions AB4173 (Europe)
References
- Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: W". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 21, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.