Waterline's second album finds the duo of guitarist Chris Pappalardo and pianist Jim Ellis recording with a rhythm section starring slide guitarist
Sonny Landreth.
Landreth's group has been working with singer/songwriter
John Hiatt off and on for years as the Goners, hence the album title. It's unsurprising that
Long Goners sounds so much like one of
Hiatt's albums, then, with a similar mix of '70s-style singer/songwriter rock and rootsier influences. Ellis and Pappalardo lack
Hiatt's angst and gravitas, however, and
Long Goners is overall fairly lightweight stuff, somewhere between
the Eagles' faux-country mellowness and the unapologetic pop fluff of
Waterline's fellow North Carolinians
Hootie & the Blowfish. Pappalardo and
Landreth's guitar interplay is the album's chief pleasure, along with Ellis' warm vocal presence. The songs are overall rather a faceless lot, however: pleasant enough, with a relaxed, placid feel, but lacking particularly memorable tunes or choruses.
Waterline would be a lot of fun to see at a seaside bar, perhaps, but
Long Goners isn't memorable enough to be engaging. ~ Stewart Mason