Famous Last Words (Hedley album)

Famous Last Words is the second full-length album by Hedley released on October 30, 2007. It debuted at number three on the Canadian Albums Chart upon release. In the United States, the album is known as Never Too Late and was released on May 12, 2009. The album only includes 8 tracks from the Canadian release and contains 5 tracks from Hedley, which replaced the missing tracks from Famous Last Words. Unlike Famous Last Words, Never Too Late has a blue background on its album cover, whereas the Canadian release has a red background on its cover.

Background and recording
The group began working on their second studio album in May 2007 with producers Dave Genn and Greig Nori. The album was recorded at Hipposonic Studios and The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia and in Rock Beach Recording in White Rock, British Columbia. According to Hoggard; the album completion process was lengthy.

Singles
The first single from the album, "She's So Sorry", was released to radio on August 21, 2007. The video was shot in Toronto, Ontario on August 30 and premiered on MuchMusic on September 20, 2007. The album's second single, "For the Nights I Can't Remember", was released in November 2007. The song peaked at number six on the Canadian Hot 100. The third single, "Never Too Late", was released in April 2008, and peaked at number four on the Canadian Hot 100. The fourth single from the album, "Old School" was released in August 2008, and peaked at number 10 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Critical reception
Famous Last Words was received with mixed to low reviews. Andrew Leahey of AllMusic gave the album a 2.5/5 star rating. He said, "Famous Last Words delivers the same kick of Hedley's innumerable pop-punk colleagues, relying on a blend of snot-nosed vocals and guitar muscle that evokes the likes of SR-71 and Hot Topic in the same breath. He ends off stating, "Famous Last Words does sound destined for airplay as a result, proving that Jacob Hoggard knows how to stay in the spotlight better than he knows how to craft original music. Nick of Tunelab.com gave the album a 5/10 star rating. He stated, "If you are familiar with Hedley’s sound, then their often times hard to take seriously and borderline sugarcoated approach shouldn’t come as a shock." Kaj Roth of Melodic called the tracks "For the Nights I Can't Remember" and "Dying to Live Again" as "modern rock version of Hanson." Adrian Mack of The Georgia Straight stated that the group, "abandoned any effort to distinguish itself from the network of tatty Canadiana it finds itself caught up in, settling for an almost mathematically perfect melding of Treble Charger and Sum 41."

Personnel
Adapted from the Famous Last Words booklet.


 * Hedley
 * Jacob Hoggard – Vocals and piano
 * Tommy Mac – Bass and backing vocals
 * Dave Rosin – Guitar and backing vocals
 * Chris Crippin – Drums and backing vocals


 * Additional musicians
 * Brian Howes – Guitar solo (on "She's So Sorry")
 * Greig Nori – Guitar solo (on "Brave New World")
 * Ray Garraway – Drums (on "Never Too Late")
 * Gillian Mott (Violin), Joshua Belvedere (Violin), Bernard Kane (Viola), Alexandra Sia (Cello) – Strings (on "Old School" and "Dying to Live Again")
 * Sal Ferreres – Percussion
 * Dave Genn – Guitars, string arrangements, piano, keyboards, additional production
 * Ben Kaplan – Additional keyboards
 * Elaine Shepherd, April White, Carly "Charly" Campbell – Back-up singers


 * Production
 * Mike Fraser – Mixing
 * Dean Maher – Engineering
 * Brian Gardner – Mastering (Bernie Grundman Mastering; Los Angeles)
 * Alex Aligizakis – Additional recording
 * Dave Ottoson – Pre-Pro recording, mixing
 * Shawn O'Hara – Assistant engineer (Rock Beach Recording)
 * Brendon Brown, Brock McFarlane, Chris Michael – Assistant engineers (Hipposonic Studios)
 * Eric Mosher – Assistant engineer (Warehouse Studios)


 * Artwork
 * Garnet Armstrong – Art direction, design
 * Matt Barnes – Photography
 * Simon Paul – Design
 * Steve McArdle – 3D illustration