Final Exam (album)
# Final Exam (album)

Professional ratings :

| Review scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+ |

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.

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)
