You’re not likely to find today’s New Oldie on the original vinyl single. It is estimated that there are only between 12 and 20 copies of this record still circulating. That rarity, plus the incredible demand for this record by garage rock collectors, pushes the value up into the nosebleed area. If you have one these in that box of dusty 45s in your attic, you could easily sell it for over $1000 on eBay, or more if you go directly to the hungry collectors!
Brace yourself for an excellent garage rock tune, then hit the play button on Seven Days Of Cryin’ by The Cavaliers on Crisis 101 from 1966:
The Cavaliers were eight high school students in Lynwood, California, which is in the southern section of Los Angeles. The first incarnation of the band began in 1964, playing surf music and calling themselves the Bremen Band. They briefly changed names to The Surf Age, and finally became The Cavaliers. Legend has it that these guys had the uncanny ability to cover then-current hit songs almost perfectly! That’s probably why they managed to win a few Battle Of The Bands contests, the biggest of them at the Palladium. They even built up a huge fan club and cult following, thanks to the efforts of a couple of local teenage girls who loved their music.
In 1966, the guys went into a recording session at Western Recording Studios, paid for by the drummer’s father. Bones Howe was supposed to produce the session, but he was sick that day. The replacement guy did a straight recording of this song, but he screwed up the other side when he insisted they leave out the feedback on the guitars! Well, maybe. Why don’t I let you be the judge of that. Here’s the flip side of this record, a song called Checkmate!
They had 1000 copies pressed up and quickly sold every one of them! The guys continued to play together for awhile under the name Crystal Fog, breaking up in 1972. As good as these kids were, you would have expected them to become huge rock stars. But that never happened. As far as we know, this is the ONLY record they ever made. Not much more is known about these guys. If you have more information, please let me know!