Meet the Eye

Meet the Eye is the third studio album by Luke Melvin, released on the Beatles' Apple label on 18 October 1964. As the follow-up to Sweet Smell of Success, the album was keenly anticipated on release but turned out to be a commercial disaster. The two singles released from the album: "Meet the Eye" and "Mind Blowing" did not even reach the top 40 in the UK or the US. Within a year, it could not even be certified bronze. However, by 2018, it had been certified gold.

Only a few musicians feature on the album - Melvin, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon - and despite their input, the album did not even chart. It has been dubbed the "biggest disaster of all time".

Due to the disaster that it was, Luke Melvin embarked on: Luke Melvin's 1975 US Tour, also known as the "Meet the Eye Tour" to promote the album. The tour was dubbed controversial, due to Melvin's rudeness and terrible quality of playing. In early 1975, Melvin set up Meet the Eye Records after Apple was wound down to again promote it, but it did nothing. On 18 October 2004, the album's thirtieth anniversary, a remastered version of the album was released.

Background
After Sweet Smell of Success, Luke Melvin immediately started writing songs for his next album. Soon, he had the song "Meet the Eye" and named the album after it. Following the commercial disaster of the album, and the controversy from Luke Melvin's 1975 US Tour, Melvin decided to take a break from recording for a while and take the rest of 1975 off.

Songs
Side one

"Roll Up, Roll Up, We're On Tour" was an instrumental that only features Melvin.

"Oh What Have You Done" was Melvin moaning about criticism from the papers. Melvin said: "It was pissing me off. It's like, everyone's like: 'oh what have you done?' but I haven't fucking done anything."

"How Terrible" was again Melvin moaning about criticism. He said: "They keep saying 'how terrible' about some shitty rumour about me. Why don't you come and be a star then, you dick?"

"Get Into It Now!" was about papers trying to force Melvin to get into all sorts of genres. He said: "I just thought, 'it's my career, I'll do what the fuck I want, y'know?"

Side two (Singles)

"Meet the Eye" was just a song Melvin wrote about one phrase. He said: "I heard 'meets the eye' or something, so I wrote a song around that. I thought: 'this sounds like an A-side' and made it the lead single and the title track."

"Mind Blowing" was the second and final single from the album. Melvin wrote it just as a quick song. He said: "Just did it quickly in half an hour. I played it to George [Harrison] and he said that it should be an A-side. So I made it the A-side."

"Real Pressure" was the B-side to "Meet the Eye" and based around a bassline. Melvin said: "I got this riff on bass and I thought it was quite good so I worked out the chords and the words and I had 'Real Pressure'. I decided it was good enough to be a B-side."

"Expectations?" was Melvin's thoughts about how the album would go down. Melvin said: "I thought, 'will it be as successful as its predecessors?'. Well, we all know how that turned out ..." The song was released as the B-side to "Mind Blowing".

Track listing
All songs written by Luke Melvin.

Side one Side two (Singles)
 * 1) "Roll Up, Roll Up, We're On Tour" - 1:02
 * 2) "Oh What Have You Done" - 2:22
 * 3) "How Terrible" - 3:21
 * 4) "Get Into It Now!" - 2:11
 * 1) "Meet the Eye" - 4:32
 * 2) "Mind Blowing" - 1:23
 * 3) "Real Pleasure" - 2:19
 * 4) "Expectations?" - 4:32

Personnel

 * Luke Melvin - lead vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar
 * John Lennon - rhythm guitar
 * George Harrison - rhythm guitar, bass guitar
 * Ringo Starr - drums