It's been a little while since Mick has sent me anything, but after popular demand here's his latest post about a Detroit classic. This time, it's Little Stevie Wonder...

Remember to go out and buy the new Dirtbombs Record - it's ace!

"Everybody knows what they'd do if they had a time machine, right? We all have our ideas, so whenever the subject comes up, we tend to limit it to things like 'If you had a time machine, and could only use it the one time, what live show would you go see?' Again, everybody has their idea of who and where, and even I can come up with more than one, but if I had to pick ONE:

10th March, 1963, the Regal Theatre, Chicago, Illinois. 'Little' Stevie Wonder starts a riff on harmonica that doesn't sound like much, but the rhythm section starts to cook behind Stevie's manic playing, and after about three and a half minutes, when he yells out 'Everybody say Yeah!', the joint is jumpin'. Two and a half minutes later, three thousand teenagers have been driven into an absolute screaming FRENZY by a 12-year-old kid.

The 'Watusi' drumbeat, which had been finding its way into rock'n'roll records since its introduction to Westerners via the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1962, reached its apotheosis in 'Fingertips': the call of the drums in those seven minutes is frightening in its intensity and sends chills down my spine even now, and I've been hearing this record my whole life. It never gets any weaker; time does not dilute it. This record hits with a sharpness and purity that is painful in its beauty.

Civilisation has been in a downward spiral ever since."

MP3 Little Stevie Wonder - Fingertips (Part 2, Live) / Mirror

BONUS - Here's a live video. Its all scratchy and 60's, but sounds great.