Keith on record with Beachcombers?

[Rich Bogovich <bogie@itis.com>]

>Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997
>From: Beau McCrury <Beau.McCrury@ucop.edu>
>Subject: The Beachcombers

>So I have my copy of Maximum R&B out to view Cliff's
>advert and turn to the next page (pg. 15) and there's
>Keith in his first group The Beachcombers.  Now I 
>wonder about any recordings of Keith before joining
>The Who that may have survived.  Would anyone know
>anything about this?
>Thanx again,
>Beau (full time rust repairing) McCrury

Many months ago I posted something about this but received few responses.  I
had quoted from an early page in Chris Charlesworth's 1982 book, The
Who--The Illustrated Biography (I had borrowed it, so I can't tell you what
page it was, or precisely what Chris said).  Charlesworth strongly hinted,
if not stated straight out, that in 1963 Keith was the drummer when the
Beachcombers released a song called "Mad Goose" on a 45 on EMI's Columbia
label.  

Another source lists this 45 as:  Columbia DB 7124    Mad Goose/You Can't
Sit Down

(The Beachcombers had at least one other:  Columbia DB 7200    Night
Train/The Keel Row)

One or two Who fans expressed doubt regarding Charlesworth's statement
(without any firm basis for doing so), but that's about all the feedback I
received.  I was stunned that few Who fans seemed to care whether there is
an unacknowledged Moon performance out there!  At the very least, I had
hoped that somebody on the mailing list who has connections to Charlesworth
or other Who confidants would be able to explore this.  I don't own the 45,
so I can't even attempt to determine with my own ears whether Keith is the
drummer.

But better late than never, so I'm hoping somebody can help resolve this
now!  Beau, thanks for asking the question!

Rich