MIO Records

[JKL2000]

So some discussion started of MIO Records in the Tull - This Was reissue thread. I thought I'd bring it here as I have a question or two.

Is this listing of MIO releases on Discogs complete? Or is it just a list of what has been entered by users?:

https://www.discogs.com/label/60187-Mio-Records

Because I have a pretty good number of these, but some people are saying they feel they got interested in MIO Records too late, and missed out. But maybe there are a lot more releases, and I missed out on a lot too. Some of the ones in this Discogs list I had chances to buy at Downtown Music Gallery - some used - but I just wasn't interested enough in them at the time. Of the ones listed there are only about five that I don't have. A couple of them I might have as releases from different Israeli labels. I have the Decibel box set, so didn't count the individual releases. Also, I didn't count the sampler.

A lot of them seem to be available via Discogs for pretty reasonable prices. Which are the hardest ones to find? (Talking CDs here.)

[flytomars]

I need to check my MIO shelf when I get home to see if this is complete (I think I am missing one of the Besombe titles)

As far as the hardest to find -
Atmosphera (original CD) was the first to be OOP, but was later re-issued on Vinyl (though I am not too sure how legit it is)
I see all the Besombes are available, and if memory serves they also had a re-issue by another label.
Jean Cohen Solal had a reissue too if I am not mistaken.
Pocket Orchestra seems to be rare.
For some very peculiar reason Kyrie Elyson is very rare though it boggles me who would want this so badly.
Défense De also seems to be one of the more desired ones.

My own personal favourites are:

Begnagrad (for fans of Samla, only with a Slovenian touch)
Flamen Dialis (Mellotron-fest with hypnotic qualities)
Danny Ben Israel (psychadelia, not really prog but mindblowing if you consider the time and place in which it was conceived)
Decibel box set (Mexican RIO - love the studio albums)
The Platina (Mostly a jazz band, but the studio tracks in the first half are very progressive / capital P Prog)

[Scrotum Scissor]

Atmosphera (original CD) was the first to be OOP, but was later re-issued on Vinyl (though I am not too sure how legit it is)

Pocket Orchestra seems to be rare.
For some very peculiar reason Kyrie Elyson is very rare though it boggles me who would want this so badly.


My own personal favourites are:

Begnagrad (for fans of Samla, only with a Slovenian touch)
Flamen Dialis (Mellotron-fest with hypnotic qualities)
Danny Ben Israel (psychadelia, not really prog but mindblowing if you consider the time and place in which it was conceived)
Decibel box set (Mexican RIO - love the studio albums)

Good list there; I'd probably add the Mosaïc and the Pocket Orchestra myself, and that Mr. Toad is arguably one of the 6-7 finest releases by a modern Israeli "prog" band - of which there have been surprisingly many these past 10-15 years (although none Affiliated with Steven Wilson). As for Danny Ben-Israel, it's the most intense mizrahi-drenched psych I ever heard from the Middle East - he goes WAY beyond the Turkish bands and some of the other Israelis. A fantastic discovery for us 'Westerners'.

As for the Kyrie Eleison; I used to keep the previous CD issue of it but gave it away.

[flytomars]

Good list there; I'd probably add the Mosaïc and the Pocket Orchestra myself, and that Mr. Toad is arguably one of the 6-7 finest releases by a modern Israeli "prog" band - of which there have been surprisingly many these past 10-15 years (although none Affiliated with Steven Wilson). As for Danny Ben-Israel, it's the most intense mizrahi-drenched psych I ever heard from the Middle East - he goes WAY beyond the Turkish bands and some of the other Israelis. A fantastic discovery for us 'Westerners'.

As for the Kyrie Eleison; I used to keep the previous CD issue of it but gave it away.

Good call for PO and Mosaic,
Mr. Toad is a personal favourite of mine but for some reason it gained so little popularity that I thought something is wrong with me for liking it
A very mellow and relaxing album without entering the realms of kitsch, with some very tasteful "I talk to the wind"y vibe.

[Steve F.]

Mosaic, Besombes/Rizet, Begnagrad, Pocket Orchestra (which Cuneiform tried to do at least a decade earlier, but was unable to do so), Flamen Dialis were my faves.

Pocket Orchestra was reissued in full on AltrOck with a bonus second disc.

Besombes / Rizet has been reissued on vinyl, but only as a single disc, which blows.

[Zeuhlmate]

What is Meidad doing now ?

[Steve F.]

What is Meidad doing now ?

Completely out of the business. Every long once in a while he buys something from us.

[Scrotum Scissor]

The Begnagrad is total badass. Perfect companion to Debile Menthol, Orthotonics, Look de Bouk, DAAU and Die Knödel. Why on Earth weren't these bands more commercially successful? Like that Asia and 90125 thing?

I guess it all goes to show.

[Steve F.]

The Begnagrad is total badass. Perfect companion to Debile Menthol, Orthotonics, Look de Bouk, DAAU and Die Knödel. Why on Earth weren't these bands more commercially successful? Like that Asia and 90125 thing?

Glad to learn you are an Orthotonics fanboy, Richard.

I saw them a lot in their trio/Luminous Bipeds era and they were always charming and often wonderful. I think I even saw their 1st gig as a trio, which occurred in DC.....

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ I first heard it (and of them) when a sound technician/musician in my hometown lent me a 90-min. cassette with Bipeds on side 2 of an MX-80 recording (Out of the Tunnel, I seem to believe). This must have been sometime in 1992, and I remember thinking that I'd never really heard anything quite like it; a "progressive" post-punk group just doing their thang and obviously feeling very happy about it. Although sometimes sombre and 'sarcastic' in tone, there's altogether a persistent sense of joy in much of their music.

IMO.

[Steve F.]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

very much in agreement with you about the joyful part.

[TheH]

Seems like I missed out on some good ones (can't buy everything I want to)

I do only own the original Besombes / Rizet 2LP (good stuff)

I had that Kyrie Eleison original LP, which I bought 'cause of all the hype made about back then. Must be the worst amateurish Genesis clone thing I ever heard im my life (I heard a lot of stuff in this way), dam this is an awful record...

[moecurlythanu]

Well Jed, there appear to be 30 different individual releases, and only 15 listed on Discogs. That leaves a 15 disc shortfall, 12 of which are accounted for by the compilation Box Sets, etc. (The Decibels cancel each other out.) That means 3 titles are outright missing. Those are MIO-011, MIO-012, and MIO-015. These are not listed on RYM, so it's not impossible that they were withdrawn and never released.

What would you do without me?

[Steve F.]

Well Jed...What would you do without me?

post about reglazing the tub, mostly....

[flytomars]

Well Jed, there appear to be 30 different individual releases, and only 15 listed on Discogs. That leaves a 15 disc shortfall, 12 of which are accounted for by the compilation Box Sets, etc. (The Decibels cancel each other out.) That means 3 titles are outright missing. Those are MIO-011, MIO-012, and MIO-015. These are not listed on RYM, so it's not impossible that they were withdrawn and never released.

What would you do without me?

Hmmm, you are correct- I seem to be missing more than I remembered.
According to the sampler- 15 was supposed to be Pocket Orchestra, 13 is Kha-ym , 31 is Luc Henrion- Galerie (have no recollection of these), and some future releases- Hot Fur (in the end it was a co production with Musea), Urban Sax (which fell thru) and there were other projects in the works-
Greek band Axis (a remaster was ready but the band heard the label is from Israel...)
Zingale- again, a master in better quality than the available CD, but it fell over copyrights (to the surviving band members dismay)
Ganelin Hopper Kaminski- was issued in the Hugh Hopper Vol.8
Magical Power Mako- the rest of the Harmonium (6-15)
And some israeli stuff from the vaults: Piamenta brothers (with Stan Getz), Cosmic Dream (Tangerine Dream-like band of by then very young Barry Sakharof, later of Minimal Compact)
There might be some more but these are from the top of my head...

[Scrotum Scissor]

Hot Fur (in the end it was a co production with Musea)

Greek band Axis (a remaster was ready but the band heard the label is from Israel...)

Zingale- again, a master in better quality than the available CD, but it fell over copyrights (to the surviving band members dismay)

The Musea release of Hot Fur is very good. Sorta "RIO lite" with a nod or two to older Israeli acts like Kchat Acheret, Sheshet and so on.

But did the people behind Axis steer away from MIO because of the label's Israeli origin? Due to what? Presumed obscurity of sales - or for (unreasonable) political reasons? Anyway that's a bummer, as it's an excellent album which would surely have been given as good a job as the Besombes and Flamen Dialis.

Zingale's Peace would most definitely have benefitted from a better mastering and preferably some new cover-art as well. The sound quality on that one official CD-issue is really murky and hissy. Nice songs and playing, tho'...

[Steve F.]

^^^^^^^^^^

Re: Urban Sax. Dunno if it is my place to say this, but if any one thing killed MIO, it was their Urban Sax ‘experience’.

[Progbear]

For some very peculiar reason Kyrie Elyson is very rare though it boggles me who would want this so badly.

laughing reaction.jpg

Mean! But funny!

Flamen Dialis (Mellotron-fest with hypnotic qualities)

This one didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it’s worth owning and the occasional listen just because it’s so unlike anything else in my collection. I could see something like this coming out as a “library” release, actually, but it’s extremely quirky and odd even for that.

As for the Kyrie Eleison; I used to keep the previous CD issue of it but gave it away.

That was my experience, too. I had the Indigo edition and got rid of it.

I had that Kyrie Eleison original LP, which I bought 'cause of all the hype made about back then. Must be the worst amateurish Genesis clone thing I ever heard im my life (I heard a lot of stuff in this way), dam this is an awful record...

So my ears don’t deceive me. I did think the “psychedelic” guitarist was pretty good, but the keyboardist didn’t really do anything interesting (a lot of listeners will forgive anything so long as a modicum of real Mellotron is used), the songs were just aimlessly, needlessly protracted, and Peter Gabriel has a lot to answer for regarding the litany of hideously bad imitators he has “inspired.” I bet this guy had a pile of goofy home-made masks to go along with his tone-deaf bleating.

As for why this was so venerated? There was the thrill of discovery back in the 90s, where people would forgive a lot of sins so long as a band tried to be prog. A lot of formerly praised discs (this one up near the top of the list) have not held up well.

That and, for some reason, “sounds like Genesis” is a high priority for many people, no matter how bad, derivative or all of the above. Such albums are still sought after by many.

That said, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to own The Blind Windows Suite. “Not as good as The Fountain Beyond the Sunrise” hardly sounds like a recommendation to me. I could seek out some tracks on Youtube, but as my life enters its third act, I can think of better uses for my time.

[flytomars]

The Musea release of Hot Fur is very good. Sorta "RIO lite" with a nod or two to older Israeli acts like Kchat Acheret, Sheshet and so on.

But did the people behind Axis steer away from MIO because of the label's Israeli origin? Due to what? Presumed obscurity of sales - or for (unreasonable) political reasons? Anyway that's a bummer, as it's an excellent album which would surely have been given as good a job as the Besombes and Flamen Dialis.

Zingale's Peace would most definitely have benefitted from a better mastering and preferably some new cover-art as well. The sound quality on that one official CD-issue is really murky and hissy. Nice songs and playing, tho'...

Re Axis- afaik, yeah, the reason was political.

Re Zingale- Peace, there is actually a very decent vinyl reissue by the copyrights holders (the Third Ear record label), a completely different master (albeit a tad too hot, but waaaay better than the CD)

[Scrotum Scissor]

Re Axis- afaik, yeah, the reason was political.

Geez. Another coneheaded shorting of the European post-radical leftist fuse (which I myself once supported); even a small, idealistic underground enterprise gets submitted to "boycott" for inactively sorting under a flag.

[Zalmoxe]

Based on the discussion above, the only two essential ones that I am missing are the Besombes/Rizet ‎– "Pôle" and the Flamen Dialis ‎– "Symptome - Dei" albums. I am also missing Atmosphera, but that seems to be impossible to find, so it won't count.

I am a big fan of the Pocket Orchestra, Mosaic, Begnagrad, The Platina and Mr. Toad.

I used to like Kyrie Elyson, but only one disc of the three, if I remember correctly. Haven't played it in aeons. The production was kind of shoddy, was it not?

[Steve F.]

Besombes/Rizet is definitely a great, sorta 'primitive futura' electronics and rock album of its day.

[Zeuhlmate]

I remember a conversation I had with Meidad many years ago, where he told me that MIO had said no to release a Swedish band (dont remember the name), because they wanted to donate an eventual profit to a Palestinian organisation. The band didn't get it, and he was rather surprised to say the least how ignorant or insensitive they were.
At the time Meidad lived in Tel Aviv (afaik) where coffeeshops and busses recently had been bombed by suicide bombers, etc. - so he was not really in the mood . . .

[Trane]

I need to check my MIO shelf when I get home to see if this is complete (I think I am missing one of the Besombe titles)

As far as the hardest to find -
Atmosphera (original CD) was the first to be OOP, but was later re-issued on Vinyl (though I am not too sure how legit it is)
I see all the Besombes are available, and if memory serves they also had a re-issue by another label.
Jean Cohen Solal had a reissue too if I am not mistaken.
Pocket Orchestra seems to be rare.
For some very peculiar reason Kyrie Elyson is very rare though it boggles me who would want this so badly.
Défense De also seems to be one of the more desired ones.

My own personal favourites are:

Begnagrad (for fans of Samla, only with a Slovenian touch)
Flamen Dialis (Mellotron-fest with hypnotic qualities)
Danny Ben Israel (psychadelia, not really prog but mindblowing if you consider the time and place in which it was conceived)
Decibel box set (Mexican RIO - love the studio albums)
The Platina (Mostly a jazz band, but the studio tracks in the first half are very progressive / capital P Prog)

I heard a lot of these because for some reasons, my library system bought most of the MIO catalogue (except for the Eylison thingie

BTWS, most of Besombes' albums (with the notable exception of the Rizet collab), including the two Hydravion albums were reissued in a boxset on the Cleopatra label. (I'm wiklling to part with it, if anyone's interested)

For me, clearly the best MIO release was Flamen Dialis

Well Jed, there appear to be 30 different individual releases, and only 15 listed on Discogs. That leaves a 15 disc shortfall, 12 of which are accounted for by the compilation Box Sets, etc. (The Decibels cancel each other out.) That means 3 titles are outright missing. Those are MIO-011, MIO-012, and MIO-015. These are not listed on RYM, so it's not impossible that they were withdrawn and never released.

that's my guess.

What would you do without me?

post about reglazing the tub, mostly....

lmao.gifthis is why Jed is known by everyonerotflmao.gif

I had that Kyrie Eleison original LP, which I bought 'cause of all the hype made about back then. Must be the worst amateurish Genesis clone thing I ever heard in my life (I heard a lot of stuff in this way), dam this is an awful record...

When I finally put an ear of this "most-overrated album evah", I returned it to Collignon (Music Emporium) the next week (after a second spin, to confirm)... what an insufferable and amateurish turd appealing only to go-go symph weenies.... clearly the kind of "prog" that brought so much water and wind to the punk's mills.
I don't think it was an MIO release, though, given that this was in the late 90's.

[moecurlythanu]

Hmmm, you are correct- I seem to be missing more than I remembered.
According to the sampler- 15 was supposed to be Pocket Orchestra, 13 is Kha-ym , 31 is Luc Henrion- Galerie (have no recollection of these), and some future releases- Hot Fur (in the end it was a co production with Musea), Urban Sax (which fell thru) and there were other projects in the works-
Greek band Axis (a remaster was ready but the band heard the label is from Israel...)
Zingale- again, a master in better quality than the available CD, but it fell over copyrights (to the surviving band members dismay)
Ganelin Hopper Kaminski- was issued in the Hugh Hopper Vol.8
Magical Power Mako- the rest of the Harmonium (6-15)
And some israeli stuff from the vaults: Piamenta brothers (with Stan Getz), Cosmic Dream (Tangerine Dream-like band of by then very young Barry Sakharof, later of Minimal Compact)
There might be some more but these are from the top of my head...

Well, the plot thickens, then. It sounds like more were in the works but then aborted. Something must have happened that caused Meidad to lose his taste for the reissues game rather suddenly. Or it could have been sales numbers, I suppose.