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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.

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Final Exam
Studio album by Loudon Wainwright III
Released	1978
Studio	MZH Studios, New York City
Genre	Folk
Label	Arista
Producer	John Lissauer
Loudon Wainwright III chronology
T Shirt (1976) Final Exam (1978) A Live One (1979)

Professional ratings

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

1. "Final Exam"
2. "Mr. Guilty"
3. "Penpal Blues"
4. "Golfin' Blues"
5. "The Heckler"
6. "Natural Disaster"
7. "Fear with Flying"
8. "Heaven and Mud"
9. "Two-song Set"
10. "Pretty Little Martha"
11. "Watch Me Rock, I'm Over Thirty"

Personnel

• Loudon Wainwright III - guitar, vocals
• Arlen Roth - slide guitar
• John Hall - guitar
• Eric Weissberg - banjo
• Errol "Crusher" Bennett - percussion
• Kenny Kosek - violin
• Richard Crooks - drums, percussion
• John Crowder - bass, vocals
• Ron Getman - steel guitar, guitar, vocals
• John Lissauer - clarinet
• Hugh McCracken - guitar
• Glen Mitchell - keyboards, vocals
• Larry Packer - violin
• Stephen Tubin - keyboards
• 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

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