Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Individuality and the eccentric go hand in hand, and where some will turn their nose up at such actions of originality, the truth is the strange, the unpredictable, and the idiosyncratic will always find favourable smiles because they are true to human nature, they have refused to give in to the ordinary and average conceits, and they prove that there is No Place Like Home for spreading their own gospel on life, and that taking to the streets is a fate they are willing to expand upon.

The act of the subversive and the anarchist is not to destroy and obliterate, but to channel a new belief, revolution without bloodshed, upheaval and rebellion without a shot being fired, for what we do at home, we must do in the open, we treat the public to change as we would those whom we love who sit and listen to our conceptions and transformations of the mind.

It is to the tremendous Gemma Rogers that the subversive finds a new willing partner in which to add style and grace to the symphony of insurrection, and in her new album, No Place Like Home, the humour of insubordination is not only evident, it screams joy as if a long forgotten hidden away safe is discovered in a house in need of dreams; its grandeur comes direct from upbeat disgruntlement, and it is outrageously cool.

Across tracks such as Dance Of A Thousand Faces, I’m In Love, Time Of Your Life, Song For The Cities, First World Problems, and Instant Gratification, Gemma Rogers brings the elements missing in a world beaten almost into submission by regulation and damnation, the beauty, the act of defiance, the mercy of revolution

A superbly arranged and produced debut, Gemma Rogers is a class act to follow and tread beyond the entrance of another home; wipe your shoes with respect on the welcome mat, then revel in the anarchy of the riot that ensues with pleasure.

Ian D. Hall