Logitech HS-LOGI-H110 Stereo Headset with Mic, Black/Grey

The item took ages to be dispatched despite being in stock when I purchased it. Due to lock-down, it took forever to get it delivered. And when it was, the disappointment was enormous, as I wanted this item to do some freelance work and it is not usable for that.
 

The only photo available, conveniently, doesn't show the jacks, and this is a problem as they won't fit most computers unless they are old models where these 2 jacks were the standard. This being the case, you'll need to buy an adapter to fit it in. This being the case, the item ends being expensive for what it is - an average home-use headset. Also, the cable is a nuisance, as it is too long for a laptop. It might be good for a desktop computer, though.

You cannot control the volume via the headset cable but through the computer sound.

Quality of recorded sound is OK with regards to the recorded sound per se, but due to having to use an USB adapter there is background zoom noise that ruins a professional recording. Quality of sound when listening to a video-clip or watching a movie in my laptop is decent.

The headset is a bit tight on the head even for small heads like mine.

I am a fan of Logitech, but this model is prehistoric and not worth the money.

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"All the Little Lights" by Passenger (2012)

Website

All the Little Lights is a folk-rock independent album composed and sang by street and independent musician Mike Rosenberg (aka Passenger). 

Music, like Poetry, is something that it is always very personal. You like it or not. It does speak to you or it doesn't. It does touch you or it doesn't. All the Little Lights is an album that directly speaks  to me.

Contemporary pop-rock music is so empty of personal experiences, so affected by musical mannerisms, so politically correct, or politically incorrect by clichés, so over-marketed and overproduced that one gets surprised at finding All the Little Lights -an independent basic album- topping the charts in Europe, America and Australia.

All the Little Lights has little instrumentation and basic musical arrangements, with a predominance of guitars, violins and drums, very acoustic at times. The music is very catchy and cheery; a downside for an independent album, I think, which, in a way, explains its international success. However, the melodies per se aren't what make you listening to the album the second, third or tenth time. You will listen to it because of the lyrics, and because of Rosenberg's charming voice and honest performance.

All the Little Lights is an poignant album about love and lack of love, dreams and hopes, passions and disliking, failure and success. Rosenberg displays his wounds and flaws with emotional maturity, self-acceptance, lack of self-pity and lots of wit. Rosenberg has written wise witty lyrics that say something about him, his life, how he sees life, and who he is.

I absolutely love the lyrics of Things that stop you dreaming, Let her go, All the Little Lights, and I Hate (the latest recorded live in London). However, all the lyrics are great.

All the Little Lights is a good album with excellent lyrics that deserves the praise and success it has.

I hate the cover of the CD. I think it doesn't make any justice to the album. 

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Yoko Ono

Years ago, a friend of mine passed some of Ono's records on to me. He always thought that I would like her music and her. Since I did not like her public persona, I did not listen to her music until about two years later. When I decided to listen to it, I knew why my friend had insisted - Ono's music is crazy, daring, experimental and very intimate at times. One of those music styles that you like or hate, not for the masses.

I have always thought that Yoko Ono has/had a sharp aura, if that can be said. That is, something that makes the onlooker uneasy and unsettled despite Ono being quite small and, at the moment, an old lady. She seems to have a very strong edge, something that would cut you into tiny pieces if you dared to look at her in the wrong way or asked her a stupid question. Still, if you look at her photos with John, especially the more intimate ones, she looks like another person, a soft gentle happy lady.

I woke up last Tuesday night thinking about Yoko Ono. I am not making this up. My brain does funny things to me sometimes. It just came to my mind, in the middle of the night, how unjust and unfair Mass Media has been with her. Most importantly, how John Lennon's life and artistic creation changed for the best, after they met.

Doesn't Ono come immediately to your mind when you hear the name John Lennon?  This is my case. Lennon is, to me, Lennon plus Ono - them kissing, embracing, naked, their bed-in interviews and anti-Vietnam protests. I cannot imagine Lennon singing "Give Peace a Chance" without Yoko Ono. I did not live the Beetles-mania, so, to me, Lennon is more Ono's than Beetles'.

Do you know anything or remember Lennon's first wife, Cynthia? I do not. I had to look for her photo and biography on the Internet. She looks like a normal pretty lady, still unremarkable. Like a nice human being, who loved and was loved by Lennon, put up with his crap, and had a baby with. I am not saying that she has to be despised for being an average wife married to a famous person. I am saying that she did impact Lennon in a less powerful way than Ono did. 

Ono was a remarkable woman when she met Lennon. She was an avant-garde artist, an intellectual with a vision, and with much clearer ideas than Lennon on what was to be done in the world of Music. She was a woman who had made a living out of her talent, and had an opinion on everything. At a personal level, she  came from a harsh relationship and a missing abducted child, but she never exploited her personal misery to present herself as a victim. As my friend told me, imagine the impact that a woman like that must have had on Lennon, a normal guy with enough talent to take what she had to say on board. It is true. Ono transformed Lennon into the best possible version of himself at a human level, and that without even trying, without forcing anything, without changing who he was, without putting up with his misogynist crap. He did the same to her. It was like a chemical reaction that, once the right elements are mixed, creates magic. This is perhaps the reason why, unlike other artistic couples, they did not end breaking-up due to abuse, envy or clash of the egos. These two were remarkable fitted for each other at every possible level, despite Lennon's cheating later in life.
   
The Mass Media and the general public have always disliked Ono, or at least  talked or portrayed her in a way that shows a macho misogynist attitude towards any woman who is brilliant, has talent and a brain, and is an individual. It is easier to attach her success to Lennon's halo, blame her for the Beetles' break-up and for Lennon's break-up with Cynthia. When she came into the public scene, she was not especially girly or pretty, had too much wild hair, she did not use make up, she was opinionated, she was not a Westerner - therefore, she was unlikeable. If this wasn't enough, she was not singing "la la la" sort of songs, nothing popular that would make her appealing to the general public. She would be yelling at times, literally. She did not give a damn about what the masses or the Media thought or said about her, so this irritated everybody. Most importantly, she has always used the Media when it suits her, mostly for good causes, and not the other way around. When she decided to lead a private secluded life, she did just that, despite the interest of the Press.  

The question we have to ask ourselves is, would have the Public and the Media reacted and judged Yoko Ono the same if the case was the reverse? That is, Ono a man and Lennon a woman? Of course not.
 
Ono has always been, and still is, a reserved woman, an active avant-garde artist and peace activist. The culture of the 21st century owes her as much as it owes John Lennon, perhaps more, because she was "hated" for just being a female intellectual, a daring artist, an activist, and, most importantly, for not conforming, for being just herself and living her life the way she thought/thinks it should be lived.

I cannot but like and admire Yoko Ono, despite her halo of scary edginess. Yoko Ono was way ahead of her time, even if we do not sing her songs. Although her public image and appreciation has been softened and increased in the last two decades, we will have to wait for her death for Ono to be fully recognised as the great woman she is.

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"Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sound (2008)

Walking on a Dream is the first Album by the duo Empire of the Sound (Luke Steele & Nick Littlemore), published in year 2008. 

Pop electronic music is rarely a hit with critics, who always feel guilty giving more than three stars to pop albums that are successful at the Radio. This is especially evident in the case of Walking on a Dream, which although well-received, received a meagre three-star rating in most reviews. However, the album ended winning seven out of the eleven ARIA awards to which was nominated, including the Best Album of the Year.

Walking on a Dream is not only a good album title, it is a good album that has proven to stand the pass of time and age with grace. The album still sounds fresh and fashionable - a rare quality in contemporary pop albums, which have a couple of good songs, are aggressively promoted through Radio stations, and, once the hype wanes, the album doesn't speak to the listener any more. The music is not only upbeat and danceable, but the lyrics are excellent, and the energy and sound of the whole album very good and unique. One of the things I like the most is how smooth and kinetic the transition between the songs is, so the whole thing flows. The Pacing of the album is also excellent, with the songs combined and organised in a very organic way. This is one of the reasons why the album has become one of my favourite companions for walking and exercising.  

"I don't want to talk, All I hear is noise"

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"James Blake" by James Blake (2011)

James Blake
Universal, 2011
http://jamesblakemusic.com/

"James Blake" is the acclaimed debut album by English electronic musician and song-writer James Blake. The album has been listed in most compilations of album of the year for 2011, and has excellent reviews. That was, precisely, what made me get it.  

If I had to define the album in three words I would say: Chaos is beautiful.  Indeed, the sound that Blake has created is a blissful retro-futuristic chaos, like a  cohesive mix of the electronic experimentation of the 1980s, modern jazz improvisation, classic blues, and contemporary Indie sounds. Blake's sound sounds like the music of the humans of the 22nd century or the sound that mermaids and mermen listen to when dancing in their oceanic realms  - enveloping, intimate, and wonderfully odd. It is not just the music. Blake's voice is very colourful and textured, very intimate, broken and masculine.  An explosive mix.

Unfortunately, ignoring the lyrics of the album would be unfair in a review, as a song is, well, both music and lyrics. Simple, no? Read or listen to the lyrics of "Unlock", "The Wilhelms Scream", or "I Never Learnt To Share" (lyrics: "My brother and my sister don't speak to me, But I don't blame them" that is all), just to give you three examples. Can you ignore them when hearing the album? I cannot. In a way they help you to keep in trance. Blake has turned himself into a modern chanteur for disco-dance dervishes that need little wordiness and the melody to keep them dancing around entranced. He could have brought us there by just using his music and voice and emitting guttural lah-lah-lahs or oh-oh-ohs. It is the sound and colour of his voice what will captivate you, not his lyrics, as they lack not just in words, but also in emotion. In other words, Blake's wonderful sound doesn't transcend itself. In a way, it is a bit narcissistic and even onanistic (with all my respects!), deeply beautiful, empty at times, with glimpses of a depth and lyricism that I would have liked developed and dug in.

Still this is a very good album that sets a foundation-stone for modern musicians and sound-makers. The sort of music that the future is waiting for. 

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The Heart's Wisdom The Heart's Wisdom (Double CD) by Bodhipaksa

This is a double CD with four mediation exercises destined to develop your empathy with other human beings (yourself, family members or friends, people we know superficially, and humankind in general). 

The CDs are accompanied by an leaflet explaining the different exercises. 

 Bodhipaksa's voice is simply wonderful. His pacing, his tone and the lack of music help the listener to enter a soft estate of meditation necessary to practice the different exercises of empathy (love and kindness, compassion, joy and Equanimity) and open your heart to the world out there. Moreover, it is extremely relaxing. 

Those people who like music in the background might not like it, but I find that true meditation is only possible with silence and a good "guru".

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"Yoga Nidra Meditation CD: Extreme Relaxation of Conscious Deep Sleep" by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati (2003)

Easy to follow meditation-relaxation CD without the religious mambo-jumbo. The introduction is very short an and tells you in 8 minutes what yoga nidra is all about, and the other four parts are the exercises of relaxation; you can do them all together, or just two by two. The narrator's voice is very soothing, without music of any sort. I think the lack of music is a virtue as you focus on the exercise not on the music, and facilitates awareness. It certainly achieves what it preaches: deep relaxation similar to the one you get when entering sleep. To be honest my body started to react, physically, as when entering sleep, with my muscles kicking on their own and relaxing almost from the beginning. Most recommended to manage stress or simply to relax or to sleep (which is a contradiction!). The only down of the CD is the poor quality of the sound, especially clear in the 10 silent minutes includes almost at the end.

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"Born to Die" by Lana del Rey (2012)

Lana del Rey's voice in this album has depth, colour, texture, darkness, lyricism, playfulness and naughtiness. The sound of the album is dark and sultry at the same time and will remind Tori Amos' fans of Amos' unmistakable wonderful sound and voice. Lolita!

The album has a mix of musical influences, from soft rap to old Spanish/Hispanic tunes, from independent songstresses of the 90s to tunes of the 1970s, all well blended together. It is very retro-modern, so to speak.

It is an album in which the lyrics of the songs are the main focus, so you cannot consume it in a hurry, despite the music being quite upbeat and enjoyable per se. The main virtue of the lyrics is how cinematic they are, little mini-stories in themselves with great characters, which you can visualise in your head as if they were a mini-movie. My fav songs are Video games, Summertime sadness, Carmen and Lolita, but I love most of them.

I have enjoyed the album a lot. However, in a way, there is a disconnection between the emotions of the songstress and the characters she tries to bring to life, if you know what I mean.

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"21" by Adele (2011)

21 is not only a step up with regards to Adele's 19, but one of the best albums that has been launched in the last two years. Even more extraordinary is the fact that you will love the album even if you are not into this sort of music, into love songs, or even into Adele. That is a lot to say about an artist and an album.

It is not only the soul Adele has put in the lyrics, but the fact that the album is not overproduced musically, but an harmonious mix of Adele's powerful voice and melodies and instruments that are there enhance it not to distract the listener with unnecessary innuendos.

This is one of those rare CDs in which all the songs are excellent, not just one or two. A CD that you could listen to for the whole day. A CD that makes you connect with your inner feelings of love and lack of love in a raw honest way.

Truly, all the Grammies Adele got in 2012 for "21" are well deserved. Unlike many other over-produced over-marketed artists for the masses, Adele's 21 is a terrific album that will survive the pass of time, and a proof of her artistic talent.

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"Cermonials" by Florence + The Machine (2011)

Ceremonials is an album that gets slowly into your skin and gets more addictive the more you listen to it. I have to confess that the first time I heard it, I found it very different from Lungs in conception, tones, feeling, musical influences and lyrics.

The lyrics are quite intriguing and ambiguous, what makes them enthralling. I think they are an improvement with regards to Lungs. The mix of rhythms is also very interesting, and transmits a great energy that goes from peaceful to roaring. At the same time, some of the rhythms and melodies remind me of other groups and eras too.

I miss the presence of some acoustic songs in the album, although some acoustic pieces are in the deluxe version of the album and they show Florence's great talent. I don't know why some of them weren't included as such in the standard CD.

The album comes to down to what makes you feel and think. To me, it gives me the energy of a world full of mystery and depth, but shiny and brilliant that opens if you let it be, if that makes any sense to you. It also makes me feel a million dollar babe when I hear it. Why? I don't know. I guess because it express many things that are inside me, or brings the best out of me. Go and figure out.

Four Stars

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"Down the Way" by Angus and Julia Stone (2010)

Down the Way it is one of those albums that seem to be composed and played just for you, alone, as if Angus and Julia were at your place, in an improvised gathering singing some songs for you, in front of a bonfire at night time. That sort of intimacy.

The intimate feeling of the album, and the complementary voices of the Stones, is what makes it so special. Most importantly, the lyrics go from the extremely poetic, especially the magnificent For You, to those really fun and cheeky, like Big Jet Plane, just to mention two completely different songs.

The album gets down into your skin, slowly, and puts you in a special blissful trance mood. I especially like playing it at night, when the silence of the streets and the darkness of the sky are the perfect canvas for the lyric sparks of this album.

A little jewel for your ears. 

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