The Pop Corporation

We can never speak for the artist, so it’s always a bit strange likening their music to anyone else’s. However, we’re reasonably confident that saying the new one from Ballard is something of a love letter to Pub Rock a la Nick Lowe, in that it’s goodtime, honest Power Pop, that’s also not afraid to be a little arch and good humoured.

Ballard – or Darren Riley to his missus – is known for his illustrations as well as smashing out two-minute gems. We mention this because, listening to the songs on ‘Everything Will Be Alright’, it takes a certain curious eye to sing about the things you listen to. It’s not every day you tap your foot along to a Mersey backbeat and be advised to ‘Phone Your Mum’.

It’s a positive set of songs, but not without a bit of bite. A wonderful example of Positive Nihilism is found in ‘You Will Definitely Die’, which on paper, sounds like the most mawkish nonsense you’ve ever heard in your life, but the song itself leaves the listener with a sense of “well, we might as well crack on with having as nice a time as possible, eh?”, rather than despairing at the futility of it all. The fact that it immediately follows the title track is a bit of wittiness not lost on us.

With ‘My New House’, we find ourselves wandering around Chez Ballard with the man himself as he points out the things he likes about it. It’s a fun gander about the place, taking stock of the things you’re grateful for because obviously, in 2023, it’s easy to mope and find fault with everything all the time, because everything can feel unrelentingly weird. It’s not to say this is a run of songs that choose to ignore the woes of the world, rather, it’s a suite of songs that’d rather put an arm around you or text you to see if you fancy a brew.

‘Rough With The Smooth’ deals with that a little more explicitly, and before you start taking yourself too seriously, you acknowledge that yep, you’re listening to a superb slice of Cod Reggae. Scoff all you want, we just found ourselves beaming from ear-to-ear.

Remember when rock ‘n’ roll was fun? Ballard sure does. You’d do well to remind yourself as well.