It was 1986, autumn. Over the years Nikki Sudden and I had discussed, planned and written songs for an eventual collaboration. Nikki was working his music full-time; I was writing and raising my kid. One day Nikki calls pretty much out of the blue and says he is in Fairport Dave Pegg’s lush Woodworm Studio recording with his brother Epic Soundtracks and Rowland S Howard, and do I want to tack a week on and do an album? I started packing. When I arrived at the studio one gorgeous afternoon, the band had just laid down the backing track to Nikki’s remarkably beautiful ‘Gallery Wharf’. I was awed and enchanted. I still love that song and my good fortune in performing its only recorded incarnation is humbling. In the years since, “I Knew Buffalo Bill” has been heard more, evaluated further, loved by a few fiercely, liked by many more, overlooked by millions. The unusual combination of players and pieces, and some great production, haveearned it a niche all its own. In that time, four of its key players – Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks, Rowland S Howard and Jeffrey Lee Pierce (whom I only met briefly before and during the sessions) – have passed away. It gladdens me that our work on the album has been the cause of one excellent shared homage (Italians Circo Fantasma’s “I Knew Jeffrey Lee”), and that one of its latter tracks, ‘Burning Skulls Rise’ (from the eponymous EP that followed the original album), was covered by Rowland and Lydia Lunch. Subsequently it has appeared on a handful of European compilations and even one modern B-movie soundtrack, for “I Pass As Human”, directed by former Flesheater Chris D. On this deluxe edition I’ve included all but one track of the original album, demos, Bsides and, to bookend the album, live material reinventing the songs Nikki, Rowland, Epic and I laid down recklessly over 20 years ago. My favourite line of Nikki’s, from ‘Gallery Wharf’ – “What’s done can never be put down” – speaks for all of what is here for you to remember, discover or rediscover. It’s a strange pile of sounds and songs to have helped create. Jeremy Gluck