Live at Crawley

Thompson is a widely bootlegged artist. He is vociferous in his opposition to bootlegs on the grounds that not only does the artist not gain by them, but that they also deprive the artist of control over the quality of his output.

Recognising that the people who buy bootlegs are mostly fans and completists looking for additional material, Thompson decided to start marketing additional live and archival recordings that would provide a better quality alternative to the bootlegs, which would be approved by him and which would provide an additional revenue stream. He negotiated with his then record label Capitol to be allowed to distribute 'not for retail' discs at shows and via mail order.

Live At Crawley is the first of these "authorised bootlegs".

Thompson had appeared with double bass player and now-regular collaborator Danny Thompson at the Crawley Jazz Festival in 1993. Their performance had been broadcast by the BBC and, ironically, was available as a bootleg shortly thereafter.

Many of the songs the duo played were included on the Mirror Blue album that had been recorded but not released.

Live In Crawley was the first official live Thompson release since 1984's Small Town Romance. The contrast between the two recordings is marked. On the earlier album Thompson sounds introverted and ill at ease, but on the later album he is a more confident front man and engages the audience. Richard and Danny Thompson have continued to collaborate in concert and increasingly on record, but this remains the only non-bootleg record of their live work as a duo.