TCBCast 171: BJ Thomas and Elvis
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Release Date: 06/22/2021
TCBCast 313: The Elvis Songs We'd Erase
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Gurdip and Justin put their heads together for an interesting and provocative thought experiment: what Elvis songs would they pick if they had to remove 5 songs from each decade of his career? Would they just pick our least favorites - or consider the historical, social and cultural ramifications of each decision? Plus, are some periods of Elvis' career easier to prune than others? And then in the second part of the episode, Justin's joined by Olivia as they look at streaming data from a popular digital music platform to examine what the least listened-to Elvis songs (of ones originally...
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TCBCast 312: "Speedway": The Soundtrack Album Review
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Gurdip returns this week for a lively discussion about the soundtrack to Elvis' 1968 film "Speedway," which co-starred Nancy Sinatra, who features on two tracks, making her one of the few artists to ever appear on an album with Elvis during his lifetime. The guys dig a bit into the recording sessions (which, minus Sinatra's contributions, were primarily done at MGM's soundstage instead of at RCA Studio B as usual) and how this move affected the production quality of the album, the poor choice of promotional single material, unfortunate timing of the film & soundtrack's release, and ponder...
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TCBCast 311: Elvis - The King of... "Fools"?
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Justin is joined on this episode by longtime guest and inquisitive mind Olivia Murphy-Rogers, who Gurdip, Ryan, Bec & Justin are pleased to announce is joining the TCBCast crew!! Justin and Olivia explore the concept of the "fool" in Elvis' music - song titles, lyrics, and at critical moments in his life from his childhood in Tupelo to his final television special. Justin continues the theme with his Song of the Week, Elvis' 1971 version of "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" and they look at the history of both the song (which dates back to the 1940s) but also the phrase itself....
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TCBCast 310: The Nashville 1970 Sessions, Part 2
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Justin and Bec pull out all the stops for a thorough exploration of the remaining Nashville studio sessions from 1970: June 6, 7 & 8 as well as the brief September 22, 1970, session where Elvis laid down four more tracks to polish off "Elvis Country" and prepare a single. As they begin to sense the material's strength (and Elvis' interest) waning, they ponder whether the "marathon" approach may have done more harm than good in the long run. There are still numerous highs, like much of the material that landed on the country record, but there's also... "Life." This episode's main topic is...
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TCBCast 309: The TCBCast Takeover (feat. John Michael Heath)
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Gurdip's on vacation and between day jobs and personal emergencies, timing isn't lining up just yet Part 2 of the Nashville sessions, so Bec and Justin got together for a quick spur of the moment episode and managed to rope in John Michael Heath of EAP Society for a loose Elvis discussion among the three. The team discusses John & his father's Elvis artifacts in their collection, favorite Elvis movies, the 1969 American Sound Sessions and the 1970 Nashville Marathon both come up, as well as John's recent acquisition of Memphis photographer William Speer's non-Elvis collection of decades...
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TCBCast 308: The Nashville 1970 Sessions, Part 1
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Justin and Bec explore Elvis' "marathon" sessions from June 1970, starting with laying the groundwork for the return to Nashville's RCA Studio B, pondering why Elvis may not have chosen to return to Chips Moman's American Sound in Memphis. Instead Elvis is joined this time by a new band led by his live guitarist James Burton but otherwise comprised largely of country-soul players who had worked alongside producer Felton Jarvis in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, including Chip Young, Jerry Carrigan, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam and Charlie McCoy, and rather than a meticulous planned session with...
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TCBCast 307: Elvis Blue (1983) (feat. Rabia)
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
You're about to be taken on a journey... Justin is joined by Rabia of Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast to tackle Australia's near-exclusive 1983 compilation "Elvis Blue" (also released in Japan & South Africa) which compiles all 19 songs Elvis released during his lifetime with the word "blue" in the title. This strange collection of songs that, when initially described, sounds like a novelty cash-in, ends up becoming a compelling, thoughtful alternate exploration of the span of Elvis' entire artistic journey, from Sun Records to the last song he ever sang. Justin & Rabia...
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TCBCast 306: Exploring Elvis Bootlegs
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Ryan returns this week to look back on his time and findings exploring the world of Elvis bootlegs, from soundboards and audience recordings to studio material and fan-made spliced takes. Justin takes the opportunity to loosely discuss some of the history of Elvis bootlegs and try to contextualize where Elvis bootlegs have fit within the larger rock bootleg scene, and the guys ponder whether there is even a future for Elvis bootlegs to offer anything new or interesting now that A) the official collector's label, Follow That Dream, has done a lot of the work both clearing out the vaults and...
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TCBCast 305: Elvis's Worst Album? Elvis Sings for Children... and Grown-Ups Too!
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
Oh yeah, we went there. Gurdip & Justin sit down with the 1978 compilation album, intended for children but so often cited by Elvis fans who were around at the time as one of the worst and most misguided projects Colonel Tom Parker ever spearheaded... but is it, really?! Closer examination may be necessary! (Note: the guys ponder why the presence of an elephant in the artwork; Bec reached out after the fact and reminded us that Colonel Parker's favorite animal was, in fact, the elephant!) Also discussed is the newly surfaced Forth Worth, TX footage of Elvis from early 1958 (available here...
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TCBCast 304: Blue Suede Shoes: The History, The Fashion, The Song
TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast
One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready... For our main topic this week, Justin's extensive Song of the Week takes priority, as the guys dig into the history of "Blue Suede Shoes," originally written and recorded by Carl Perkins and famously associated with Elvis throughout his career and beyond. What was Carl tapping into when he wrote it in 1955, why did it have such appeal, and has it been overplayed? Numerous versions by both Perkins and Elvis over the years are covered and discussed. The story doesn't stop there - Justin's dug up what he believes to be some history behind...
info_outlineGurdip's back this week and we pick up the topic we had originally intended for last week, an Elvis-tinted overview of the life & music of BJ Thomas, who passed away last month at the age of 78 and whose music often occupied the same musical space as Elvis's (sometimes literally, in the case of Elvis' 1969 American Sound recordings).
For Song of the Week, Justin will "Never Again" have to pick a certain underrated Jerry Chesnut/Billy Wheeler ballad from Elvis's 1976 album. Gurdip takes inspiration from Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead" and spotlights "Night Life," which was recorded for but cut from 1964's "Viva Las Vegas."
Next week, we'll be covering Elvis' 1973 Stax Sessions, a topic voted on by our Patreon supporters. This episode also included about 7 minutes of bonus discussion exclusive to the Patreon version of this episode. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or share our show on social media. Every positive review helps our rankings so that other likeminded listeners can find us. Thanks!
(Credit to the Greatest Music of All Time podcast for BJ Thomas interview excerpt regarding Elvis.)