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Album Details

• Artist: Loudon Wainwright Iii
• Album: History
• Label: Virgin
• Year of Release: 1992
• ME Rating: Indie Classic
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-10-09

Loudon Wainwright III is an established singer/songwriter that has never really seen any commercial success despite plugging away at it for the better part of 30 years. He is much praised in the critic and peer areas but Loudon has never seen much more than that. Radio play began and pretty much ended, except for community radio, with "Dead Skunk", a bit of a novelty song from 1972. Out of his entire catalog History is the album that gets the most praise and rightfully so. Don't mistake the title for that of a anthology or hits album, these songs are all original and some of them, quite humorous. Tracks like "The Picture" and "Talking New Bob Dylan" showcase the diversity of this under-exposed artist. I find it quite interesting for his son, Rufus so be actually successful in the exposure side of things when all he does is put a bit of a sheen on his dad's style. They are very close to one another but Loudon's songwriting can be arguably considered a little better. The honesty and wit that Wainwright delivers on History really couldn't be presented in a better manner. The production on this album is ever so slight, keeping the honest and genuine songs in tact without messing with them. Loudon plays a great guitar too that is on every track on the album. Any fan of folk/rock needs to have this album.

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