TCBCast 230: The Jungle Room Sessions, Part 1

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, Elvis and the TCB Band worked their way through an album's worth of new material. There's a few uptempo cuts from previous hit songwriters like Mark James's Moody Blue or Dennis Linde's For the Heart, but the vast majority of tracks are heartbreak weepers. Elvis goes increasingly off-track, to the point that he stops showing up altogether, though the guys spend a little time at the end of Part 1 speculating on the three songs from The Platters that he is known to have been singing in between takes. Part 2 next week, to be released on the 45th anniversary of Elvis's passing, will include discussions on the October 1976 sessions, and Songs of the Week as voted by TCBCast Patreon backers. 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.