Episodes
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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 is surprised to learn this is an unchallenging, conventional retelling of Elvis' life story leading up to 1968 intended for the most casual of potential viewers. There's a few new bits of footage, thoughtful contributions from the small group of talking heads and a fairly well-constructed first half, but the TCBCast crew's smaller grievances about certain inaccuracies, exclusions or lack of nuance begin to pile up around the midpoint until the whole thing topples over in its coverage of the special itself, culminating in an outburst over the way the film handles the special's iconic finale.
So, the crew all went back to rewatch the original 1968 broadcast version of "Singer Presents Elvis" - complete with original sponsor advertisements - which we have not revisited on TCBCast properly since 2018, and reflect on both the special itself, the incredible work of its extremely under-recognized crew who made it possible for Elvis to shine, and whether the documentary captures what was so great about the NBC special in a way that is useful or insightful.
"Return of the King" is streaming via Netflix, the 50th anniversary version of the "Comeback" Special is available on Apple TV or purchasable on digital distribution platforms, and an original broadcast version of the special, intact with Singer Sewing Company commercials, has also been made available on the Internet Archive. The video clip we mention near the end of the show is viewable on EAP Society's YouTube channel.
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 along the way.
Then Gurdip taps in for Song of the Week, selecting the rowdy gospel number "If the Lord Wasn't Walking By My Side", which Elvis cut for his "How Great Thou Art" album. Justin's Song of the Week is Elvis's 1970 version of Joe South's plea for empathy and understanding, "Walk A Mile in My Shoes."
Our primary resource for this episode was the content contained within the Follow That Dream release "That's The Way It Is: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition" including the book by David English and Pal Granlund.
Don't forget that the Netflix documentary "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley" releases today, November 13, 2024 on Netflix. We intend to have a full-group discussion soon!
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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, some surfaced in the MGM collection "The Lost Performances" and further material in the Special Edition re-edit of the film from 2001 - but despite several official releases of select material and numerous bootlegs over the years, it wasn't until 2020 that Sony's FTD sub-label officially released the vast majority of the audio of the TTWII rehearsals for the most ardent fans to hear and learn from.
In this first part, the duo only cover the first two days of rehearsals filmed & recorded, July 14-15, 1970, but also lay the groundwork for the more dense back portion of the rehearsals. Our next episode will cover the rest from July and August 1970 as well as Songs of the Week from Gurdip and Justin.
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 the romantic "Speedway" ballad "Who Are You? (Who Am I?)" then Justin - just for the laugh of doing them both in a single episode - digs into the understated but similarly named 1969 gospel number "Who Am I?"
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 of Hound Dog.
For Song of the Week, Justin selects Elvis's cover of the Waylon Jennings hit "You Asked Me To," and ponders the implications of a minor lyrical change Elvis made in his final version. Olivia highlights Elvis's 1976 recording of Larry Gatlin's "Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall."
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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
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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 Bixby presenting Elvis conspiracy theorist Gail Brewer-Giorgio's array of so-called "evidence," but here's the genuinely shocking twist out of all of this: one of the things they dug up from the FBI's declassified files on Elvis Presley was actually partly true.
However, its association with the Elvis conspiracy world and it being used to claim that Elvis faked his death as an undercover agent has prevented the real, genuinely historical facts of how Vernon Presley was scammed out of nearly $400,000 in 1976 from being an integral part of the tellings of the last years of Elvis' life, making TCBCast first within the Elvis world to reintroduce it properly and give it serious attention.
Critical resources for this episode include:
Chasing Phil: The Adventures of Two Undercover Agents with the World's Most Charming Con Man by David Howard: https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Phil-Adventures-Undercover-Charming/dp/1101907428
Retired FBI Agent J.J. Wedick's website FBIRetired's article about Operation Fountain Pen: https://fbiretired.com/retired-fbi-agents-talk-about-opfopen-case/
A discussion with David Howard at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada: https://livestream.com/accounts/6847704/events/7955041/player?width=640&height=360&enableInfoAndActivity=true&defaultDrawer=&autoPlay=true&mute=false
Additional clippings from contemporaneous articles referenced herein will be posted alongside this episode on the TCBCast Facebook page. If you appreciated this, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. The entire "After Dark" miniseries in available in full is available to patrons at all tiers.
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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 upsetting to you, please skip over that portion.
We did not feel it appropriate to pepper the episode with clips, music, etc. It's just us and our largely raw reactions this time. We have had as much time as everyone else to process what we've in the book, and only one of us has completed it in full, so please be generous with us, and be kind to everyone else out there as this book's contents are sure to create some contention in the Elvis world. It's a very raw, emotional read/listen but we cannot recommend it more highly, both as a book and in audiobook form.
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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 soaks in the "Fountain of Love" from 1962's Pot Luck, and Bec gets funky with the Leiber & Stoller-penned Stax track "If You Don't Come Back."
Next week, we'll be uploading a bonus episode for Tuesday while the TCBCast gang will be busy reading and getting together as soon as we can for an in-depth discussion about Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough's "From Here to the Great Unknown" as well as the Oprah special airing October 8.
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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 October 8 and then Song of the Week, with Ryan returning to his favorite Elvis movie, "It Happened At the World's Fair" and its smoldering song of seduction, "Relax." Then, Justin closes things out by trying to put Elvis's 1957 recording of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" in context by showcasing how different it is from the only prior recorded versions between Bing Crosby's original and Elvis's version, and attempting to forget all about the other several thousand versions that followed.
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 ever, and these are his favorite sessions, so he's thrilled to bits. Armed with the "Elvis is Back Sessions" FTD, we explore how Elvis had evolved as an entertainer in the two years since his last sessions in Nashville and appraise the choice of material, from covers/reworkings of existing songs that he'd been practicing at home, such as "Soldier Boy," "Like A Baby" and "There's No Tomorrow" as well as wholly new songs written expressly for him, like Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman's first song for him "A Mess of Blues," and, of course, the stunning doo-wop ballad "Fame and Fortune."
Part 1 covers the March session and the first half of the April session, ending with "It's Now or Never." Part 2 will cover the rest of the April session, plus Song of the Week with Ryan!
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 Man sessions FTD to explore the outtakes and early alternate arrangement of "Singing Tree," which languished for decades as a "Clambake" soundtrack bonus song.
We have some beefy topics coming up in the coming weeks that we're busy preparing for, including discussions on the 1960 "Elvis is Back!" recording sessions, "That's The Way It Is" rehearsals and much more!
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 excellent FTD book and CD set "The Making of Viva Las Vegas" which is sadly no longer in print after its 2019 release.
For Song of the Week, Olivia picks "Love Letters," the song Elvis recorded in 1966 and then revisited again in the studio in 1970. Justin selects a holiday highlight with "If I Get Home on Christmas Day" off the "The Wonderful World of Christmas" album.
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 Las Vegas, in the year of the 60th anniversary of its release - since no one else is seeming to commemorate it!
From concept and script to pre-production efforts like location scouting, casting, crew (and especially the music, as always!), from getting song demos all the way up to the initial recording sessions, we break down how it happened in part one. Part 2 will focus largely on filming, post-production and marketing, along with our Songs of the Week! One of our most vital resources this week is FTD's immaculately researched The Making of Viva Las Vegas by David English and Pal Granlund, which is unfortunately no longer in print.
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. Patrons get early access to new episodes (including Part 2 of this episode) and plenty of bonus content!
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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 Elvis's Jungle Room recordings as the city's music industry wound down in the late 70s. It's all explored through a playlist of about two dozen tracks compiled by John, linked below.
If you've been exploring the 2024 Sony box set release "Memphis," you will find this a great supplemental discussion. There are no specific songs of the week this week, just a ton of amazing music history to delve into.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0a1G2qR6gFfQT13UzrBTLg?si=09505e6244c44da8&fbclid=IwY2xjawEdLxBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHTrNyBF-6SkoS9goKzglqEqOstRBysdp99mM1miKBy5StaEBDUZ1HVJJjw_aem_hAjH3ZILor4p4CAcxsoarw&nd=1&dlsi=f85c2bdb288d4a43
You can also find the final track intended for this playlist, which is not on Spotify, on YouTube at this link (current as of release): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipqz1oIt4TA
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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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 the Mid-South Coliseum and at his home, Graceland, "Memphis" is said to contain "newly mixed versions of the select recordings, pure and without overdubs" overseen by award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang and producer Ernst Jorgensen.
Spoilers: there's good news for those who want to re-experience the 1973, 1974 and 1976 material in a different light than you may be familiar with, and a faithful collection of the Sun material... but this set's presentation of the 1969 American Sound music is a different story altogether. And that "pure and without overdubs" claim? Well, you'll hear.
The guys also answer listener feedback on this episode, including several about a recent Song of the Week, but since this discussion ran long, Justin and John will be back later with a separate, full length episode for the main topic intended to supplement and compliment the "Memphis" set, focused on the history of the music industry in Memphis, how Elvis was influenced by it, and how he in turn helped reshape it.
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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... album? Experience? Prank?
It's the project that got Boone inducted into Colonel Parker's Snowmen's League of America and features arrangements by credible jazz pianist Paul Smith. Part spoof, part homage... if you can only say one thing, well you can't say that Pat Boone was never in on the joke!
Then, from the July 2022 edition of TCBCast Now, Justin heads west for our "Song of the Month" segment, selecting Marty Robbins' iconic 1959 showdown ballad "Big Iron," while Gurdip was inspired to pick Englebert Humperdinck's sweeping 1968 recording "A Man Without Love" by a recent movie viewing. Both songs Elvis was likely to have been familiar with, released during his lifetime from contemporaries!
Next week on TCBCast, we'll be bringing our first impressions of the "Memphis" box set which releases THIS FRIDAY, August 9 - plus EAP Society co-host John Michael Heath will be joining in for a special episode about the history of Memphis' music industry.
If you like this kind of content, you can hear more bonus content just like this that we do for our supporters over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. We kindly thank all our Patreon backers - your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy!
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Ryan & Justin convene to revisit one of their all-time favorite live Elvis albums, "On Stage 1970," which was conceived as an album full of new songs, compiled from a mix of Vegas shows from February 1970, padded out with a couple leftovers from the August 1969 engagement.
Both of the guys had the album early in their respective fandoms and have a huge appreciation for this period of Elvis's career, just a few months prior to the famous "That's The Way Is It" run in August 1970. The duo also briefly touches on the bonus tracks included on the 1999 expanded edition, the 2010 Legacy edition, and "The On Stage Season," the FTD release which featured a high quality soundboard of the closing show from February 23, 1970, which gives a better idea of what an Elvis show during this period felt like front to back than the sort of fantasy concert presented by the album.
For Song of the Week, Justin goes back into the history behind Bob Wills' "Faded Love," which Elvis cut in mid-1970 for the "Elvis Country" album, which stretches as far back as an incredible, heartbreaking true story from the mid-19th century that inspired "Dear Nellie Gray," the song whose melody that became Faded Love. Ryan, on the other hand, takes it light with the breezy "There's A Brand New Day on the Horizon" off the 1964 "Roustabout" soundtrack.
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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Gurdip was really feeling the season, so in between prepping for next week's meaty episode with Ryan on "On Stage 1970", Justin and Gurdip had a breezy little classic TCBCast-style discussion about the Elvis songs that evoke memories or give them vibes of warm summer days.
The guys also quickly tackle two Songs of the Week, with Gurdip giving "Once is Enough" from "Kissin' Cousins" the second chance he feels it deserves, and Justin simmering with the understated (and oft-overlooked) Don Robertson-penned ballad "Love Me Tonight" from the early 1963 sessions that should have led to a studio album (later known as The Lost Album or For the Asking), but instead the song was buried as a bonus on the soundtrack for "Fun in Acapulco."
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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After 5 1/2 years, TCBCast returns to the subject of books about Elvis as a full episode! Gurdip and Justin did an early episode of the show about some of their favorite reads on the life, career and phenomenon of Elvis, but this time Bec gets to open up her extensive Elvis library to talk about her favorites, and Justin gets to talk about some of the ones he's read and appreciated most in the intervening years. These aren't necessarily recommendations to rush out and buy immediately after listening, as a few that are referenced are quite difficult to find nowadays (especially the FTD books) but there are definitely a few that you may want to pick up afterwards.
For Song of the Week, Bec picks "I'm Falling in Love Tonight", the Don Robertson ballad that the songwriter himself got to play on for the "It Happened At the World's Fair" soundtrack, while Justin highlights "Take Good Care of Her," which Elvis had a Top 10 country hit with in 1974.
One of the news items we reference at the top of the show: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/graceland-elvis-presley-scam-naussany-branson-missouri-rcna157155
If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.
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