Music Review // Eric Hirshberg "The Grand Elsewhere"

 

Say what you want about cliches, but I do like the idea of looking back at photos from a time when you could say "And not a phone in sight".   It's just so strange to me to see people at a big sporting event recording through their phones when they could just go home and watch a professional video of the event.  Maybe it's because I come from a time when we didn't carry video cameras in our phones because we didn't carry phones at all, but I feel like far too many people are no longer capable of living in the moment.

"The Grand Elsewhere" begins with these pianos and then keyboard tones which bring us into the guitar as well.   This reminds me of one of those rock bands from the 1980's / 1990's that wasn't your typical type of sound back then.  Something like A-ha mixed Dire Straits.  It's the type of sound that was of that time for sure, but not the one you think of right away when I think of that MTV era of music.  This definitely would've had a regularly played music video back at that time as well.

The hook of this song has the lines: "When I look up and look around / Every head is hanging down / Lost in the grand elsewhere".   For one thing, this is a great safety concern of just not being aware of your surroundings. It's not just about walking into objects and causing injuries, but people shouldn't be able to get close enough to you to snatch your purse.  At the same time, I understand when this song explains being in a crowded room but with no one at all because they're all focused on their screens.  It's so bad that sometimes it just feels like people can't live if not through their screen.

This song can also take on an almost country-like sound as it gets a big stomping rhythm to it.  I don't feel like this is a song for everyone though (even though I feel like everyone needs to hear it).   Certain people might be upset by this and others just might not want to have to think while listenng to the lyrics of a song.  But if you are okay with listening to the thinking man's music, then put on this song by Eric Hirshberg and expand your mind.