POPMATTERS : Buffalo Killers – Stand Back and Take a Good Look from Alive’s 20th Anniversary album

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by Brice Ezell

In paying tribute to the extensive catalogue of the classic rock ‘n’ roll label Alive Naturalsound, the Ohio group Buffalo Killers take on a tune by an under-the-radar ’70s power pop outfit.

Rock & Roll Is A Beautiful Thing, indeed. As a part of this year’s Record Store Day, the Alive Naturalsound label will release a limited colored vinyl under that name, which includes 21 tracks of previously unreleased material, original album cuts, and cover songs. The artists represented include the Black Keys, Radio Moscow, T-Model Ford, the Bloodhounds, and as you can hear exclusively below, Buffalo Killers.

That Ohio rock group—whose second Alive Naturalsound outing, 2008’s Let it Ride, was produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys—has offered up a cover of the Nerves’ “Stand Back and Take a Good Look” for this 2LP collection. In doing so, the band highlights their presence amongst a fine roster of blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and psych outfits, all the while paying tribute to a classic band.

Zach Gabbard tells PopMatters, “Recording the fantastic ‘Stand Back and Take a Good Look’ cover, penned by Jack Lee, was a no-brainer. We really wanted to do something out of the Alive catalog to pay tribute to the label and the Nerves. The song came really naturally to us and felt like it could have been one of our own.”

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