Orange Peels "So Far" (Spinart, 2001)
A South San Francisco pop prodigy, Allen Clapp has done more in three albums to map the internal landscape of the Bay Area than the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Concorde ever thought of in all their decades of drudgery. When, for example, was the last time you heard Phil or Grace croon about the fog, or look up at the sky and wish for rain? The weather, which comes in waves just like the ocean, is Clapp's constant companion, and unlike our legions of psychopathically perky weather forecasters, he doesn't mind when it starts to drizzle. Clapp's silky guitar tones encompass both the morning overcast and the sun that burns it off; rainy weather may be anathema to all the immigrants from LA who have swamped the Bay Area during the last decade, but to those of us who remember a time before SUVs and global warming, Clapp's music has a ring of romance, and truthful nostalgia. And, hey -- for the rest of you, beyond the confines of California, the guy also makes some pretty nice pop songs. This is another lovely album by a humble local hero.
