Hedley follows up what I thought was a pretty good debut release with an amazing second album.  The sophomore album seems to be a big determining factor in the ultimate success of any artist, because it shows if the first album was just a fluke or if the artist has real staying power.  I don't know about how well Hedley has done on the charts, but what I do know is that this is a great album.  All of the songs on this CD are incredibly catchy and get stuck in my head for a long time after listening to them.  Even the ones that I don't care for as much as the others really don't have me rushing for the ‘next' button as some other albums do.  I enjoyed Hedley's debut album, but the songs on this one are much more cohesive and create a much stronger album as a result.  There is a nice variety of songs on here as well, from the meaningful “For the Nights I Can't Remember” to the fun and upbeat “Never Too Late”, but the overall feel to the album never changes.  Jacob's unique vocals are very strong and he has proven himself to be an exceptional songwriter as well.

There is a lot to like here, and really, my only complaint is that the album is too short.  With only 12 songs, it always surprises me when all of the sudden I'm on the last song and it feels like it just started.  I guess that's a good thing though, because it doesn't feel like any of the songs drag on or that I feel like I have to skip through to get to the good stuff.  Something that does bug me about Hedley, and it has nothing to do with the CD, is that I find them hard to watch them perform.  Their music is strong enough that they don't need the weird distracting performance style, and I think that they are better off without it.  I think that Hedley has the talent to stay around for a long time, though, and hopefully more people who live in the US will eventually know about them, because they really have good music.

I keep up with the careers of several of the people from “Canadian Idol”, and out of all of the albums that have been released from former contestants so far, “Famous Last Words” is the best, in my opinion.  Since we live in the US , the CDs and shipping can get pretty pricey on these things, but I don't feel like we wasted any money at all on this one.  I wish Hedley much success in the future so that they will continue to make more music for us to enjoy!

- Liz