Unheralded Origins of Genius: Analog Archives 1997-2000 is the 29th album released by Moes Haven. It is a compilation of very early tracks recorded on cassette from 1997 to 2000, during years which pre-date the duo being named Moes Haven. The album was released on December 10, 2021; it has 33 tracks and a run time of 1 hour and 43 minutes.
While the rarities compilations Songs from Deep in the Vault included many tracks from the band’s pre-2004 catalog, they also included demos from Stromboli’s Alarm Clock and other unreleased works from the band’s streaming era. Unheralded Origins of Genius contains songs only previously available on cassette, which meant they were limited to the copies belonging to Matt Farley and Tom Scalzo.
The cover features Farley and Scalzo standing in front of an excavator in Middleton, MA, after having grabbed dinner nearby. In the Motern Media No-Jokes Album Guide, Farley says “the excavator in the background symbolizes the fact that we are digging up some of our best old songs.”
To date, this is the last album from Moes Haven to feature any work originating from the band’s early era. The following album, (Several Supreme Beings Told Us To Make This) One Last Album, would come out in 2023 with all-new material, and would act as Moes Haven’s final album.
“The Parasite’s Companion” is known to be a song originally released on An Art Supreme. “Oh, My Darlin’ Apple Core” may match the song “Darlin’ Apple Core” known to have been on This Is My Planet.
Track listing
- Who Is R. Harper? 2:00
- Jesus, Won’t You Come Bumby? (Original Demo) 2:02 (another version is Track 49 on Songs from Deep in the Vault, Vol. 1)
- Smack Blues 5:00
- For Now, for Now II 9:43
- Oh, Tommy 2:28
- Run, Lester, Run / They Don’t Understand Me (Original Demo) 1:10
- Wait a Minute, Lester (Original Demo) 1:49
- Retrospect / Turn on the Tulip / Tinfoil and Cheezewhiz 4:36
- Fiasco (Original Improvised Demo) 2:01
- Football Player / Skeleton Keys of Your Soul 3:09
- Cracks on the Ceiling (Original Improvised Demo) 2:51
- Backdoor 1:36
- Oh, Mandy 3:10
- Hollywood / Singular or Plural? 2:32
- Cracks on the Ceiling 4:44
- Barnyard Blues 2:21
- Raging Cocaine Addiction 3:07
- She Was Better Than Nothing / She Was Sitting Right Next to Me 3:15
- Monetary Concerns 2:26
- Is Art Futile? 6:36
- Oh, My Darlin’ Apple Core 3:53
- Country Bill’s 117th Nightmare 2:55
- The Fiddler’s Apprentice 1:32
- End of the Planet Blues 5:00
- The Tory 2:11
- She An’ Me 3:29
- Forgettable 2:56
- New Directions in Idiosyncrasy (A Bum’s Attempts to Understand Postmodernism) 3:02
- The Death of the City 5:46
- Apology to D.L. 1:42
- The Parasite’s Companion 1:56
- Girl From the Subway 1:24
- Drop and Rot 1:10