Looks like the sparkfun shield only use four data pins: D4=strobe, D5=reset, A0=Left, A1=Right. You can take out the pin headers, cut off the prototyping area, and wire those four pins plus Power and Ground.
Sparkfun also sells the 8-pin version of the MSGEQ7 chip (Graphic Equalizer Display Filter - MSGEQ7 - COM-10468 - SparkFun Electronics) for $4.95. You could wire this on a small piece of protoboard.