TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Across this episode and the next, Justin and Bec are taking an extensive look at Elvis' home recordings made during his time in the US Army while serving in Germany. Though none of them surfaced until after his death, as we learned from "The Colonel & The King" last year, Elvis was explicitly encouraged by his manager to record material at home in secret. Excerpts from the tapes have appeared on such releases as A Legendary Performer Vol. 4, A Golden Celebration, Home Recordings, and Memphis Recording Services' "Made in Germany" - and by sheer coincidence, on the day we recorded the episode, the official Elvis collector's label Follow That Dream announced an upcoming 2026 box set "Elvis - Soldier Boy" that will feature two books and new restorations of these home recordings.
What we hear on the tapes is a a fly on the wall glimpse of a deeply private celebrity during a period of intense homesick and loneliness, coping with the grief of having lost his mother and being away from everything he's come to know as a successful musician and film star... but also a determined, fully invested artist developing his skills. Plainly evident is Elvis exploring concepts and styles with friends, family and creative collaborators like Red West and Charlie Hodge, for his return to his career upon the end of his military service. 
Songs like "Like A Baby" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight" foreshadow Elvis' singles and secular "Elvis is Back" album from 1960, while his love of gospel continues to be evident as "He Knows Just What I Need" and "His Hand in Mine" similarly nod toward the coming gospel album. Yet there on these tapes that Elvis never again touched (on known recordings, anyway): Hank Williams' "I Can't Help It If I Still In Love With You," Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa," and Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me," and many more! Was he just fooling around with songs he'd heard, or was he seriously considering these for his upcoming albums? And with material like "Are You Sincere," "Stand By Me" and "Danny Boy" popping up here, too: how do these home recordings fit into the larger puzzle of Elvis' musical journey from pre-Sun Records all the way to the Jungle Room? We ponder all that and more.
A technical note: Aside from clips from the above box sets/compilations where specifically mentioned, most of the audio from the home recordings you'll hear is audio that has been "re-balanced" on a per-track basis for the purposes of education, analysis and historical interest. While the new FTD set is not available yet, and MRS's release was a decently faithful restoration of the tape, other releases have featured excessive noise removal, so much of what you hear in this episode are careful adjustments that aim to retain full content and quality while making the vocal nuances a bit clearer as though the tape recorder had been a bit closer to Elvis & the other vocalists' mouths rather than closer to the instruments. Hopefully you may hear little inflections or details you hadn't ever heard before!

This week, we're heading down to New Orleans circa 1958 to revisit the soundtrack and recording sessions for the iconic musical drama "King Creole." The Dixieland aesthetic gave Elvis an opportunity experiment, melding his now-signature rock and roll style with a small jazz ensemble, creating a soundtrack LP that had a distinct sound all its own. Although few outtakes remain, the songwriter demos for nearly the entire soundtrack provide insight on how Elvis and the band further developed such classic songs as "Trouble," "Hard Headed Woman" and "Crawfish" into the final forms heard in the film.
Bec also takes the opportunity chat a bit about her appreciation for the movie itself, highlighting some of her takeaways from her most recent viewing, and posing questions about the Michael Curtiz-directed film as one of Elvis' best starring roles.
For Song of the Week, Justin provides a little insight on what influences may have led Elvis to experimenting at home in the mid-1960s with an early 1950s pop ballad, "My Heart Cries for You." Finally, Bec rounds out the episode with a reflection on the intimacy of the underrated "I Miss You" which was also a home recording of sorts - as it was recorded professionally by RCA in Elvis' Palm Springs home!
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.

Gurdip & Justin decided for this week's episode to select 10 songs apiece that Elvis was the first artist to record and release commercially and discuss why they're our favorites and what about them showcases Elvis' capabilities as an interpreter and recording artist. 
Naturally, Gurdip's list skews heavily toward the 1950s and early 1960s with a mix of hits like "Jailhouse Rock" and "I Got Stung" but a few surprises. Justin's list spans the breadth of Elvis' career, from "Heartbreak Hotel" to "It's Easy for You," the last song on Elvis' final album, Moody Blue. 
We hope you enjoy this breezy, positive and hopefully insightful episode as we're rolling up on the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. The whole episode is a big gush-fest about our love of Elvis' music!
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.

This week, Justin and Bec put on their dancing shoes and boogie back to the week of June 5, 1976 (just a hair under 50 years ago) to see what was happening in the world of American music and where Elvis' latest single "Hurt/For the Heart" ranked on the pop, easy listening and rock charts, before delving into what surrounded "Hurt" as it reached its highest peak at #6 on the Country chart - and RCA's Elvis compilation "Sun Sessions" was nearing the top of the country LP chart, too!
What they're surprised to find is not only a popular culture swept up in both disco and 1950s nostalgia, but a snapshot of a time when connections to Elvis seep into most of the rest of the genre of country music, with songs like "Suspicious Minds" and and artists who ALSO once recorded at Sun Records like Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty and Narvel Felts or have other Elvis connections (Elvis movie demo singer Glen Campbell shows up too!) bringing their own stylistic throwbacks to the Top 10.
For Song of the Week, Justin solves a mini-mystery surrounding what 1962 movie scene specifically inspired Hank Cochran to write the country classic "Make the World Go Away," which featured prominently on "Elvis Country" and Elvis was filmed performing during the making of "That's The Way It Is" in 1970. Then finally, Bec touches briefly on Elvis' studio and live versions of Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times." 
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.

Gurdip joins Justin to catch up on the latest Elvis news, read some listener feedback and hold a debate: if the guys were forced to select between only Elvis' Golden Records Volume 1 or Volume 3 on vinyl to give to a new fan, which would they recommend? Each makes a case for one of them.
Volume 1, released in 1958, of course features many of Elvis' most iconic hits from 1956-1957 including signature songs like "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock" and "All Shook Up" - but it is as good of an album as 1963's "Volume 3" which includes many of Elvis' masterfully sung singles after his return from the Army, such as "It's Now Or Never," "His Latest Flame" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
For our listeners who are older fans - did you have these in your collection, and do you have a preference? For the newer fans: do you think such classic compilations are still useful, when today other more and thorough refined collections/playlists are available digitally? And to our non-American fans: isn't it weird that you were marketed Elvis' American gold records first and foremost instead of what may have been more locally popular?
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.