title: Final Exam (album)
text: # 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)
  