TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

In this split-host episode, Gurdip and Justin give their initial impressions of the new Elvis On Tour box set, recorded shortly after its early December release, as well as highlight certain performances that stick out as noteworthy listens. Then they briefly speculate on what the future holds for Elvis box sets going forward now that Sony seems to have mostly caught up with securing their continu...

The epic conclusion of our gigantic, four-part, 6-hour Clambake review episode draws to a close in a wonderful, incredible way as Justin and Rabia finally deliver on what they had foreshadowed to Felix all the way back in the first part: you get to hear someone who mere hours before previously knew only the most basic pop culture knowledge about Elvis Presley, experience the highest highs of the 1...

As 1967's Clambake passes its balls-to-the-wall groovy titular scene, it quietly becomes a relatively mundane little sports flick about the formulation of a protective sealant for boats... but Justin blows Rabia & Felix's minds by revealing that the infamous "GOOP" later effectively became a reality, before providing historical insights into the 1967 Orange Bowl Regatta held in Miami, Florida, and...

Part 2 of our massive review of 1967's "Clambake" centers around the two most memorable musical showpieces in the film: "Confidence" and "Clambake." It's here in Part 2 that we learn the true reason why the Frank Sinatra podcast peeps are here: not only "Confidence"'s infamous similarity to "High Hopes" from the 1959 movie "A Hole in the Head", but Rabia & Felix's recent encounter with a prominent...

You folks have no idea what you are in for. Over the next couple weeks, as a holiday treat, Justin is joined by Felix and Rabia of Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast for perhaps the most in-depth exploration of the 1967 cinematic classic "Clambake" that maybe anyone has ever undertaken in the last 55 years. Including Song of the Week, our holiday special "A Very Clambake Christmas" (further split i...

A note from Justin & Gurdip: "This episode takes some pretty sharp turns. We hope that after you hear us 'give it the old college try,' you all will appreciate and understand the approach that we eventually landed on for the Patreon-picked main topic on the abundance of conspiracy theories that loomed over pop culture after Elvis's death in 1977, and our pivot to discussing some great music from 1...

Six performances on television across nine weeks in early 1956. Not only did Elvis's life and career changed so dramatically between them, but the face of America's cultural landscape, as the establishment voices of popular and country music fought the tidal wave of rock and roll on all fronts, winning some small victories like Dot Records's attempt to obliterate Little Richard's original "Tutti F...

From its misleading title to its meme-status cover, for all our joking about 1972's Elvis Now, it's time to put our money where our mouths are and actually see if the music itself is as misguided as the cover that contains it would seem to imply! For Song of the Week, Gurdip realizes that the 1963 "Return to Sender" sequel song, "Western Union," still sounds good despite being an outdated culture...

Justin, Jamie, and John continue their exploration of Hal Wallis's 1957 production, "Loving You," by delving into the stories behind Elvis's costars and how they ended up in the film, particularly Lizabeth Scott and Dolores Hart. Then the guy ponder Loving You's legacy as to how the film handles the cultural zeitgeist around Elvis Presley, seriously contemplate whether Loving You or Jailhouse Rock...

Musician, actor, songwriter, producer and past TCBCast guest Jamie Kelley returns with Elvis collector & expert John Michael Heath, the co-host of their new YouTube video series EAP Society, to sit down with Justin to talk all about what they've been up to in the past couple years, their history as collectors, and then get down into the nitty gritty behind the classic 1957 film starring Elvis Pres...

This week, Justin and Bec are joined by Rick London, longtime Elvis fan since 1955, and music history aficionado. Rick provides a wealth of insights and experiences on what being a contemporary Elvis fan felt like, and how the process of learning about him and consuming pop culture has evolved in the years since, and in a fun sidebar, Justin even gets him to discuss his brief stint in the mid-60s...

Justin and Bec certainly INTENDED to take things light this week going for an "easy" topic spotlighting their favorite Elvis songs by year recorded, but you know how it goes... they begin breaking down the performances as they go and it turns into a fun exploration across the entire spectrum of Elvis's career. For Song of the Week, Justin gives attention to another great but underappreciated 1969...

Inspired by the now-iconic "Vegas Rehearsal" scene from Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, and winning the Patreon poll for topic this month, Justin and Bec sit down to try to unpack Elvis's working relationships with his musical producers, what people really meant when they described Elvis as his own producer, and if that moment in the movie was really based on something that really happened (spoiler: like mo...

Hey all - as discussed in the intro to this, we're taking a one-week hiatus, partly for Justin's birthday, partly due to some necessary & unavoidable schedule shuffling on our back end. We'll be back next week with a split episode between Bec & Justin on Elvis as Producer/Arranger and Gurdip & Justin on Songs of the Week. This week, rather than dropping an old Songs of the Week compilation as we w...

On this week's TCBCast, Gurdip and Justin briefly touch on some recent Elvis news such as the confirmation from Baz Luhrmann that he's seeking to release the Viva Las Vegas remix from the film, a new preview track from the forthcoming Elvis On Tour box set, and we take time to give gratitude to listener & patron Rick, who incredibly generously donated his collection of Elvis material and memorabil...

On September 24, 2002, BMG unleashed what would become perhaps the most successful Elvis Presley release of the 21st century: 30 #1 Hits. To celebrate two decades since its milestone release, Justin and Gurdip look back at how producer David Bendeth overcame obstacles like deteriorating master tapes, poor documentation and missing elements to deliver a vibrant compilation that while massively succ...

Justin and Bec follow up an episode from last November, loosely tracing Elvis's progression as a vocalist through his more mature years as he slowly (but surely!) leans less on imitating others and begins to find his own true voice. It's an incredibly meaty topic and goes everywhere from the differences between in-studio recordings of the 60s and live recordings of the 70s to considering why ETAs...

Gurdip plays catch-up with the incomparable Ms. Jaime Kay as she dusts off her seat and regales him with tales of her visit to Memphis and Elvis Week 2022, including an encounter with Priscilla Presley and Jerry Schilling. Then, Justin cracks open the TCBCast vault to bring out not only a little extra bonus discussion on UK-exclusive LPs with author Tony Plews, but also a long-lost Song of the Wee...

Picking right back up where they left off, Justin, Gurdip and Darin continue examining the material recorded in March 1962, now beginning to fully take shape as the album that would come to be known as "Pot Luck." There's still a lot of Latin-flavored pop mixed in with country ballads, but things get really heated (and fun!) when Darin and Gurdip go head to head over "Suspicion" and the difference...

Guest Darin Evans joins Gurdip and Justin for an in-depth look at Elvis's 1961-1962 output which eventually led to the release of the album Pot Luck in May 1962. What starts with a Blue Hawaii reject and several sessions simply held for the purpose of recording singles eventually begins to take shape as the severely overlooked followup to 1961's "Something for Everybody." Top songwriters like Doc...

Today we're marking 45 years since the passing of Elvis Presley. On this episode, Gurdip and Justin take a look at the final recording sessions Elvis Presley ever had, a once-passionate and perfectionist creative now distracted and unfocused for a myriad of reasons, yet still able to pull together five memorable recordings in October 1976. Then, for Song of the Week, as voted on by TCBCast Patreon...

In a valorous attempt to capture the now much more elusive Elvis Presley in his natural habitat, Felton Jarvis and RCA bought the recording studio to Graceland, turning the tropical-themed den into an impromptu space for the band, winding cords down and out the back of the house to a van where the equipment sat. Justin and Gurdip explore how, over the course of 6 nights in the spring of 1976, Elvi...

Justin is joined this week by record collector (and TCBCast Patreon backer) Julius Adame to review Elvis's 1959 compilation "For LP Fans Only" while Gurdip is out. Together, Julius and Justin rediscover how surprisingly cohesive this package, intended to keep demand high while Elvis was overseas in military service, still holds together. They also discuss at length how a younger fan like Juilius g...

Gurdip and Justin, freshly reinvigorated, nostalgically dig up their very first box sets that served as their gateways to Elvis's discography: 1985's 50 Years, 50 Hits for Gurdip and 1999's Artist of the Century for me, and compare/contrast the packages, realizing that whether decked out with liner notes or bare-bones design, the music is powerful enough to speak for itself. To really bask in the...

Following on the heels of "I'm Comin' Home" being featured in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, Gurdip and Justin sit down with the very underrated and under-discussed 1961 album "Something for Everybody." Recorded in a single March 1961 session just ahead of the filming of Blue Hawaii, "Something for Everybody" has slipped under the radar of many... but it's one of our favorites! For Song of the Week, Justin...