Sheila Chandra

Sheila Chandra’s original Real World trilogy set a new standard in the treatment of voice
in the studio in the 90s. Band Aid sound engineer (and now long-time producer) Stuart
Bruce, with whom Chandra first worked while putting down the vocals for the Monsoon
album at Sarm East in 1982, and who mix-engineered her Real World trilogy at Real
World studios in the 90s, has masterfully cleaned up and enhanced these recordings for
release under Chandra’s direction, with fitting technical and poetic continuity.

Though a studio perfectionist, Chandra was keen to preserve the integrity of the live recordings.
“My performances were co-created, by my audience and myself,” says Chandra. “It’s a
performer’s presence and heart that an audience come to hear, not technical perfection.

Concerts are one of the few places where another person gives us their undivided,
undistracted and ‘in the moment’ presence, and we, as audience, ‘borrow’ their stilled
mind. It’s one of the vanishingly few spaces in our society where that still happens.

The performances embodied on this album, reflect that truth. They are not perfect. And
sustaining 100% focused concentration when you’re carrying an entire show alone is
impossible. In some cases, I had access to performances of the same song with greater
technical perfection, but less ‘soul’. In every case, I have chosen feeling over precision –
even, in some cases, chosen ‘soul’ over the best available recording quality.

That said, listening to an album is not the same as being at a live performance but I’ve
tried to ignore the impulse to ‘change history’.”

“These performances, whether drawn from concerts or radio sessions, were all recorded as
single takes” adds Chandra. “I wasn’t a machine and it’s important that the live recordings
reflect that.”