Out now in the July issue of Record Collector Magazine in the UK (with the mighty Ramones on the cover), ‘Native Tongue,’ the critically-acclaimed album by The Tasty Kings with Blondie Chaplin, has garnered a fantastic 4-star review. Author Jason Draper had some lovely things to say,
Belated CD release should get tongues wagging.
A loose aggregation of musicians’ musicians, The Tasty Kings have been serving up rootsy Americana ever since bandleader Andrew Morse formed the group in the mid-2010s. For Native Tongue, their third full-length album, now available on CD after a low-key digital release in 2023, the Kings count Dylan stalwarts Charlie Sexton (guitar) and Tony Garnier (bass) among their ranks, plus Stones bassist Darryl Jones and posthumous contributions from lan McLagan.
Fronting them on every song is Blondie Chaplin, secret weapon for everyone from the Stones to The Beach Boys, David Johansen and Rick Danko, and now getting his due on tracks that seem tailor-made for his voice, which has become weathered by age but remains as soulful as ever.
Hearing him sing of “Two rules/One Black and one white” on George Floyd forces the listener to see the America of today through the eyes of a man who grew up in apartheid South Africa. Standout track Maybe I’m A Queen blurs time and place, memory and aspiration, on a track that exemplifies both the Kings instinctual interplay and the interconnectedness of us all.
