TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

TCBCast is a zoo this week! In old-school TCBCast fashion, Gurdip and Justin are ranking the songs that Elvis did mostly all about critters of the world, from hound dogs to snowbirds and everything in between. It's wildly unscientific, please don't take it too seriously! The idea is to get you thinking about the lyrics to Elvis's songs more closely. As we mention, you would be SHOCKED at how many...

Gurdip and Justin delve into the recording sessions from May 1963 and January 1964 which produced songs initially spread out across numerous singles and albums over a five year span. While the music reflected a more polished Nashville-tinged pop sound that Elvis had been subtly building upon in the early 60s, giving us such iconic recordings as "Devil in Disguise," "Memphis Tennessee" and "It Hurt...

    After Gurdip & Justin discuss the latest FTDs: The Making of King Creole, The Last Tour Volume 2 and The Girl Happy Sessions, the guys answer a handful of listener emails, landing on one from fellow patron Robin, whose visit back to an early TCBCast episode that touched upon the subject of Elvis's Black influences, which conveniently leads us right into our main topic. For the main discussion,...

Ryan and Bec, for their annual team-up and the last TCBCast of 2024, decided to take a listen to Elvis' second album, "Elvis" (also known as "Elvis No. 2" in some regions) which, believe it or not, has not technically been reviewed on TCBCast! Together, they ponder where this sophomore effort, recorded all in a weekend in early September 1956 just as Elvis was preparing to make "Love Me Tender", s...

Merry Clambake! The entire TCBCast gang is joined by Rabia and Felix from Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast, Jamie and John from EAP Society, Kristen, Benita and Margarita from Those Elvis Girls, David "Ghosty" Wills from We Say Yeah: A Cliff Richard Podcast, Garrett Cash from "The Beat! With Garrett Cash", and Darin Evans, all in a manner never quite heard before - a non-linear episode intercut a...

Justin is joined by John Michael Heath from EAP Society for a thorough examination of the 2008 album "Christmas Duets" which paired Elvis' original vocal tracks from 1957 and 1971 with 1:1 re-creations of the backing tracks and some of the biggest female entertainers in the field of country music at the time: Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Wynonna Judd, Gretchen Wilson and others, as well as b...

Bec joins Justin for a look back at one of the few Elvis albums she had early in her fandom, the iconic 1959 release "A Date With Elvis." Released while Elvis was overseas in Germany during his military service, "A Date" in some respects serves as a companion piece to the earlier "For LP Fans Only," compiling a handful of tracks previously unavailable on the LP format, while also having a more int...

To celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday, Gurdip and Justin got together to reflect on the things they're most thankful for about or within the Elvis world, from songs and movies to releases and the fandom, it's a contemplative discussion on this week's show! For Song of the Week, Gurdip selects the rarely-heard "Britches," which was cut from the 1960 film "Flaming Star," and Justin digs dee...

Gurdip, Ryan, Olivia, Bec and Justin discuss at length the new Netflix documentary directed by acclaimed sports doc filmmaker Jason Hehir, "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley," purportedly about the making of the 1968 Comeback Special. Following in the wake of the special's prominence in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic and the Paramount Plus documentary "Reinventing Elvis," the gang...

Justin and Bec wrap their discussion on the recorded and filmed rehearsals undertaken for the Las Vegas engagement documented in the feature film "That's The Way It Is". The duo continues through July and August 1970's rehearsal dates, right up to August 10, the day Elvis would take the stage in front of paying customers, and reflect on the insights into Elvis and his band's creative processes alo...

Justin and Bec begin to explore the recordings that remain from the rehearsals leading up to the August 1970 concerts that would become the centerpiece of the 1970 documentary film "That's The Way It Is." The film's director, Denis Sanders, was fascinated by Elvis as a creative force and wanted audiences to get a glimpse of his working process - some of which briefly appeared in the final film, so...

Justin and Bec have a relaxed discussion about all the exciting Elvis news from within the last week or so, including the trailer for "Return of the King," a behind the scenes preview from Layered Reality's upcoming Elvis Evolution show, Ernst Jorgensen's experimentation with Peter Jackson's MAL de-mixing technology and more. Plus, Elvis trivia returns for a week! For Song of the Week, Bec tackles...

Olivia joins Justin for their thoughts on the TV special Riley Keough did with Oprah, filmed at Graceland, Riley's Graceland Q&A, and the rest of Lisa Marie's book now that things have started to finally settle. The duo also answers a bunch of listener feedback, discuss dialogue edits on "The Last Tours, Volume 1" FTD, and a recent video Olivia watched about one of Elvis' Ed Sullivan performances...

Netflix has dropped the trailer for the new documentary about the making of the 68 Comeback Special releasing November 13. Gurdip and Justin were in the middle of recording another episode when the trailer landed, so the guys dropped everything to react immediately. Watch the trailer for "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHStpufGGzA

This week, you're getting to hear a special bonus episode from our special Patreon miniseries "TCBCast After Dark." Justin is joined by Rabia and Felix of "Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast" for this discussion. There is a new introduction providing additional context. Aired in 1991, produced by Mel Bergman, "The Elvis Files" was a LIVE TV broadcast hosted by "Clambake" and "Speedway" co-star Bill...

Gurdip, Ryan, Bec, Olivia and Justin all are at different stages of reading Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough's new book, but the team was able to get together to record a brief initial impressions bonus episode. We strongly recommend the book. There are spoilers in this episode but not for the whole book. Please be aware that there is discussion of sexual abuse from ~7:00-13:40. If that may be up...

As you'll hear in our intro discussion, Justin and Bec have pushed out their TTWII Rehearsals episodes just a bit due to some extenuating circumstances, but still got together for a discussion about the lightweight, wholesome 1970 budget release on the Camden label, "Let's Be Friends," which compiled a mix of late-60s tracks (and one inexplicable 1962 recording).  For Song of the Week, Justin soak...

Gurdip and Justin wrap up their coverage of the March & April 1960 recording sessions that resulted in "Elvis is Back!" and three number one singles and the guys ponder whether these may have been the best sessions Elvis ever undertook. Then after the main topic, Gurdip taps out and Ryan Droste hops into the ring for a bit of Elvis news regarding the upcoming Oprah special with Riley Keough on Oct...

Gurdip and Justin delve into the landmark 1960 recording sessions in which Elvis declared that he was indeed back, both literally from the Army as well as on top of the charts, with the sessions giving him three massive US number one hits in "Stuck On You," "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"  As many of our listeners know, Elvis is Back is perhaps Gurdip's favorite Elvis album eve...

It's a fairly light episode this week, with Justin and Bec discussing the latest in Elvis news, including Graceland's big "Presley for a Day" tour announcement, briefly reacting to the Guitar Man Sessions FTD, Bec's latest Elvis book pick-ups and more. For Song of the Week, Bec spotlights Elvis' cover of the obscure Ivory Joe Hunter song "It's Still Here." Meanwhile, Justin cracks into the Guitar...

Olivia & Justin continue their exploration of how "Viva Las Vegas" was made, on the 60th anniversary year of its release! The duo spends a good chunk of time on the filming schedule, deleted scenes, pondering why certain creative choices were made, and also digging a bit into post-production aspects like editing, scoring and marketing. The most critical resource by far for this episode was the exc...

We've talked so much about Elvis' recording sessions that it's fairly easy to understand how an Elvis record came together. Less clear to many, however, is how an Elvis movie was made. Olivia got super curious to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking, so Justin & Olivia decided to center the discussion around the making of one of the most celebrated and successful movies to star Elvis, 1964's Viva...

John Heath of EAP Society joins Justin for an extensive (but still HIGHLY abbreviated!) discussion about the history of the music industry in Memphis before and during Elvis' career, from early blues recordings made by Ralph Peer to Sam Phillips' Sun Records, from indie labels inspired by Sun's success to the monumental Stax Records, how Chips Moman's American Sound came together, and up through E...

Justin is joined by John Michael Heath of EAP Society (youtube.com/EAPSociety) to give their first impressions of the new Sony Legacy box set, "Memphis" which released today, August 9, 2024.  Marketed as "a comprehensive collection" of 111 recordings of Elvis made in his adoptive hometown from his time at Sam Phillips's Sun Records through to Chips Moman's American Sound, the iconic Stax, live at...

Justin was out last week, so we've pulled this from deep in the archives buried in the back of the TCBCast salt mines: Gurdip and Justin's 2022 review of Pat Boone's landmark 1963 Elvis tribute record "Pat Boone Sings Guess Who?" No, we're not joking!  This may be the most we're ever gonna talk about Pat Boone at one time so we crammed in a few of his other hits into the discussion on top of this....