Hedley - Never Too Late Review

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 07.05.2009

Canadian hitmakers are back with their second US release, but is it enough to bring their success south?

My Story
A few years ago, I reviewed the debut album by Hedley – a band that is fronted by former “Canadian Idol” contestant Jacob Hoggard. “Canadian Idol” is, of course, the more northern version of our own “American Idol”. And, if you read 411 very often, you pretty much know my thoughts on “American Idol”: some decent entertainment, but the show hasn’t even produced as many great music stars as its had seasons (seriously, we’ve got Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry and…who?)

Anyway, I wasn’t a huge fan of Hedley’s self-titled debut, calling a copy of a copy of bands like Simple Plan – who aren’t even that good to begin with. But now that Hoggard is six years moved from the “Idol” stench and hopefully three years more experienced, can the band bring something new to the table?

Their Story
Jacob Hoggard (vocals) was stinging a bit after he was voted off of “Canadian Idol” in 2003. A huge fan favorite, several folks had Jacob pegged to win the show. No worries, though, Jacob just dusted himself off and counted the experience as good publicity.

Following his ousting, Hoggard formed Hedley (named after a BC city) with ex-members of Canadian rock act Everything After (bassist Tommy Mac, guitarist Dave Rosin and drummer Chris Crippin). The pop/punk foursome garnered themselves a spot on the 2005 Canadian Music Week showcase. The performance earned the group notice within the industry, and Hedley was soon signed to Universal Music Canada.

The band entered the studio quickly to cut three tracks. UMC execs saw dollar signs when they heard the songs and soon Hedley was under contract for a full-length album. Hedley hit Canadian retailers during September of 2005. Before the end of the year, the band’s first single, “On My Own”, hit #1 on the Canadian charts. The follow-up, “Trip”, just missed the Top 10.

This year, Hedley scored a deal with Capitol Records, who readied their debut to hit the US. The band toured with acts like Matchbook Romance and Simple Plan, building their fan base. And it worked – Hedley was soon certified double platinum in Canada. A Platinum Edition was released to stores shortly after. In the US – not so much. The album and singles failed to chart.

In 2007, Hedley released their follow-up, Famous Last Words, which spawned three more Top 10 hits on the Canadian charts – “For The Nights I Can’t Remember”, “Never Too Late” and “OId School”. Last Words hit platinum in Canada, but was never released in the rest of the world.

Last year, the band put together a compilation of singles and album tracks called Never Too Late, which was released in Europe. This year, the band brought that compilation to the US.

The Album
On May 19, 2006, Fontana International and Universal released Never Too Late, a compilation of singles and album tracks from Hedley’s first two Canadian albums. The US version features the same tracks as the 2008 European version, but has different cover art. This is the band’s second US release and follows 2006’s Hedley.


The Band: 6.0
Jacob Hoggard: vocals
Tommy Mac: bass, backing vocals
Dave Rosin: guitar, backing vocals
Chris Crippin: drums, backing vocals

Never Too Late is an interesting listen for anyone who heard the band’s self-titled album. As the new record compiles music from both the self-titled release and the Canadian-only follow-up Famous Last Words, you can actually here Hedley’s progression as a band. And boy, is there a difference.

The Hedley-era material is very heavy on the 2000’s pop/punk sound of bands like Simple Plan and the All-American Rejects. Frontman Jacob Hoggard busts out a mediocre faux-British accent on these songs that makes you want to grate your ears with a cheese grater at times, but the rest of the band is adept enough to add a lush layer of guitar and rhythm behind him that not every song is a total wash.

Still, Hedley’s biggest attribute (and what surely has made them such a hit on Canadian radio) is their harmonies. They just know how to do it and know how to hit the right combo to make your hair stand on end now and then. Obviously, someone keyed into that off the first record and realized that a sound like that is best suited for slower, singer/songwriter ballads. So the Famous Last Words tracks brought them. A whole fucking lot of them.

One Gavin DeGraw is good stuff now and then. Filling up 60% of an album with it is painful.

So, if you wondered if Hedley progressed any since we last heard from them in 2006, the answer is yes. They figured out what Canadian radio liked (harmonies and ballads, less pop/punk) and they kept at it. Which kind of makes them like another Canadian hit machine – Nickelback. The only problem is, you just CAN’T sit down and listen to all of Nickelback’s singles back to back. Your ears would bleed and you’d wind up beating your loved ones to death. But Hedley went and made a whole album of – well, Hedley songs. The only difference is that Nickelback kind of rocks.

The Songs: 4.0
1. She’s So Sorry
2. 321
3. Trip
4. For The Nights I Can’t Remember
5. Never Too Late
6. Gunnin’
7. On My Own
8. Bones Shatter (Never Say Never)
9. Old School
10. Narcissist
11. Hand Grenade
12. Dying To Live Again

For Never Too Late, Hedley leans heavily on their Famous Last Words material. Of the twelve tracks, eight come from the later album. I’m not sure if it’s because they thought that album was stronger or if it’s because the Hedley material was already released in the US.

From the older stuff, the band actually did a pretty decent selection. “Gunnin’” (an acoustic-based tracks) and the bouncy #1 single “On My Own” were my favorite tracks from that set and are both included here. The energetic “321” was actually kind of unnoticeable on the first album, but here it seems to be spotlighted better. Of course, there’s got to be a catch, and that one here is “Trip”, which made me want to puke before and does about the same here. The big hook on this song is Hoggard whining “I’m so into you”. It’s that kind of blunt, unoriginal songwriting that had me hating this band in 2006.

Of the new songs, as I said – you get a whole lot of singer/songwriter ballads. On some tracks, like the title tune, the band is able to inject some life into them. On others, like the sappy “For The Nights I Can’t Remember” or the painfully boring “Dying To Live Again”, they don’t even try.

Unlike on Hedley, even the acoustic stuff isn’t a relief here, like on the just plain shitty “Old School”, which attempts to bring about beach campfire nostalgia before turning into another power chord ballad. This fucking thing just doesn’t let up. And the lyrics are so meandering that it’s tough to tell the emotion Hoggard is going for:

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

Again, there are flashes of brilliance – harmonies are still awesome, but are actually farther between than on the first album. The rumbling intro to “Bones Shatter” actually has promise, but someone decided that some synthesizer would be amazing here. That person should be brutally beaten and left lying face down in a drainage ditch somewhere. Or just fired – either way. But the bottom line is, even on the good songs, there are problems.

The 411: Hedley has gone an interesting route with this compilation as their second US release. Since Hedley never really caught fire, you could argue that it’s a smart move to add its big Canadian singles to the stronger tracks from the band’s second Canadian album and try to inject them into the US marketplace. The problem, though, still remains – Hedley just isn’t that distinguishable. On the first album, they were constantly searching for a big hook or catchy chorus but to no avail. Here, they turn their focus to a quest for a sappy, sing-a-long ballad and similarly fail. It makes for a frustrating listen, at best. One Hedley song ranges from OK to bad. A whole album of them will have you hating the band and maybe even life itself.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]