Recorded 2004–2005 | Producer Brian Howes
GGGarth | |
Released September 6, 2005 (2005-09-06) Genre Pop rock
alternative rock
pop punk Length 40:33 (Standard edition)
55:40 (Platinum edition) Label Universal Canada
Capitol | ||
Hedley is the self-titled debut studio album recorded by Canadian rock band Hedley, released in Canada on September 6, 2005 through Universal Music Canada. The album reached the top 3 on the Canadian Albums Chart and has been certified double platinum by Music Canada. It garnered a nomination for Rock Album of the Year at the 2006 Juno Awards.
Six tracks were released as singles: "On My Own", "Villain", "Trip", "321", "Gunnin'", and "Street Fight". The music videos for all of these songs, except "Villain" and "Street Fight", reached #1 on the MuchMusic countdown.
Following Hedley signing a US record deal with Capitol Records in the summer of 2006, the album was released in the US on September 26, 2006. The re-release uses a new cover that features Canadian model Madaline Zanni. In Canada, a "Platinum edition" of the album was released on November 21, 2006 with four bonus tracks and the updated album cover.
Seven of the songs are featured on the 2009 US version of their second studio album, released under the title Never Too Late.
Critical reception
Corey Apar of AllMusic rated the album two stars out of five and described it as "competent though largely uninteresting." In particular, he criticized the lyrics and the lack of engagement ("Even the... standout tracks... aren't that memorable," writes Apar, "taking a couple spins to really grab listeners at all.") Starpulse gave the song one-and-a-half stars out of five.