To the list of exceptionally talented European blues artists, ad Switzerland's Philipp Fankhauser, whose Watching From The Safe Side (SonyBMG/FunkHouseBlues) is incredible.

Produced by Dennis Walker and featuring Richard Cousins on bass (both are crucial alumni of Robert Cray's career) and Alan Mirikitani (another West Coast regular) on guitar, Safe Side displays Fankhauser's impressive vocal, compositional, and guitar skills on the funky, minor-key "Blues ain't nothin'", which splits the difference between B.B. King and Albert King's '70s work; the title cut, an R&B ballad documenting a sojourn in America; and especially "Time Stands Still", which rivals Cray's "I've Slipped Her Mind" as the soul-blues ballad to beat.

Tom Hyslop, Blues Revue