Mixtape: Cerromar Circle II — Gazebo Invaders (1980-81)

In August 2017 I did a mix called Cerromar Circle — Birth of the Uncool (Summer '77), which remains one of the ten most popular mixes I've ever done. Named after the street in suburban Sacramento where I grew up, the first Cerromar Circle installment featured music I could have heard on the radio during my childhood, had local radio stations not had such stringent limitations on their playlists (or if all promo reps were created equal). That is to say, it put bonafide hits by the likes of Eric Carmen and Climax Blues Band right up alongside misses by Sea Level and Frankie Miller.

The second Cerromar Circle mix jumps ahead a little to the years 1980 and 1981.

Several factors are in play. In 1982 — in many respects the most pivotal calendar year of my childhood — my entire aesthetic blew up, thanks to my suddenly making friends with a whole bunch of Bowie fans and the release of Elvis Costello's Imperial Bedroom. (Shit really got wild in 1983 when Tom Waits released Swordfishtrombones, but we'll save that for later.) But in 1980 and 1981 I was still relying on mainstream music journals and commercial radio for most of my information about new music.

Another thing was my moving into the converted gazebo in the backyard of my house. It was my father's office until he was made partner in a local real estate appraisal firm, at which time he packed up his supplies and moved to an actual office near downtown Sacramento. So I took over the gazebo, which would serve as my bedroom, rehearsal space, info-gathering center and Play Family Studio Apartment until I left the house and moved to San Francisco. Some of you reading this may remember the gazebo fondly. (I believe Tom Molter once used it to stash a bottle of whiskey. It was a true multi-purpose room, this place.) Anyway, based on my very unstructured recall, 1981 was probably the year I moved into the gazebo.

So I was living in a room detached from the rest of my house, still keeping up with modern music via American Top 40 and whatever I heard on Sacramento's brilliant album-oriented rock station KZAP before everything changed. The songs on Cerromar Circle II are a reflection of that mega-transitional period. They're a little harder than straight pop (most of them anyway), but not hard enough to be metal and not ornate enough to be progressive rock, two genres most of my male friends were into at the time.

Some of them (Jefferson Starship, Billy Squier, Phil Seymour) were actual hits, whether on the pop charts or on FM radio. Other songs (The Elevators, Hawks, 4 Out Of 5 Doctors) I chose by going through back issues of Billboard from the time to see what the labels were trying to get on the charts. The tension between punk and mainstream was still significant in America at the time. Groups were trying to seize upon the forwardness of punk but weren't willing to commit themselves to full-time subordination. So you had weird bastards like the Tubes' "Talk to Ya Later" that seemed like acceptable compromises at the time.

That's what this mixtape features: 30 pop and rock songs from the last year of my religious upbringing and the prelude to whatever it is I became later. These songs sound way better now than they did back then, but I expect that's the antihistamine talking. No, seriously, this mix sounds really good. I hope you enjoy it.

(And yes, that's my old house in the accompanying image, full frontal. You can't see the gazebo.)

Tracklist:

Paul Collins' Beat - Don't Wait Up for Me

The Rockets - Desire

Cheap Trick - Everything Works If You Let It

Utopia - Set Me Free

The Elevators - Stickball Kids

Russia - Who Do You Think You Are?

Jefferson Starship - Find Your Way Back

Original Mirrors - Reflections

Dave Davies - Imaginations Real

The Silencers - Modern Love

Sea Level - School Teacher

Ellen Shipley - This Little Girl

Moon Martin - Signal for Help

Status Quo - Living on an Island

Philip Paul & Patrol - Last Stand for Love

4 Out of 5 Doctors - Modern Man

April Wine - All Over Town

The Kings - Don't Let Me Know

The Tubes - Talk to Ya Later

Rodney Crowell - Here Come the 80's

Hawks - It's All Right, It's O.K.

Phil Seymour - Precious to Me

Pat Travers Band - Crash and Burn

Great Buildings - Maybe It's You

Billy Squier - In the Dark

Silver Condor - For the Sake of Survival

Pat Benatar - Take It Any Way You Want It

Donnie Iris - My Girl

The Kinks - Better Things

Joan Jett - You Don't Own Me