This is a small review I wrote for the web zine Freaky Trigger :

"You're Gonna Watch Me" - Pressler-Morgan

As soon as I saw the cover I knew that I wanted to hear it. Just a blank white sheet with Pressler-Morgan hand stamped in black on the bottom left corner. Then I noticed that it was on Pere Ubu's Hearthan label and I was absolutely certain that it'd be good. It also had a one inch hole and, because I'd never owned any singles like this, the purchase was clinched. (To compensate I also bought a single by Smegma which had three holes...but that's another story).

Everyone jumps in right at the start with scratchy guitar lines and ringing chords; snappy, dry drums; fluid, driving bass and anaemic, don't-really-care vocals that are at distinct odds with the music. It travels along this level of intensity without any further build up or let down, although there's a progression from section to section, and there's definitely no chorus to be found (unless you consider repeating the song's title eight times at the end as a chorus). There's a bit of ring-modulation in the middle and at the end and that's it - just a tiny, perfect post-punk song completed in less than two minutes.

As for the lyrics : "I saw Jean today, I saw Jean and she goes..."; "I eat and you do too, All I do is sit there"; "I make my mouth smile.". Apparently they're about a time when Charlotte Pressler saw two of the other Cleveland/Ubu girls but they're so personal and impenetrable that they become meaningless. This is only exacerbated by a 'vocal solo' near the end where mumbled speach and distortion is all you can hear.

I know that it's probably too arty to be pop - whatever melody it has is carried by the guitars - and, worst of all, it's 'sung' by a poet but it certainly sounds like seeing/meeting Jean and Barb was an overwhelming experience of some sort. After twenty three years I'm still not sure whether it was a good or bad one and that, simply, is the delight of the whole song.