Biography
The Third Bardo issued only a solitary 45, "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time," for Roulette in 1967. Collectors have long hailed that lone release as among the finest garage-psych outings of the decade. Its enigmatic lead-guitar figures, which echoed the Twilight Zone theme, combined with an Eastern-tinged minor-key melody, unsettling organ textures, and a lead vocal that ranks among the most archetypal sub-Jagger garage snarls, suggested the track deserved wider circulation than it received. Although it earned scattered East Coast spins, Jeff Monn later noted that programmers yanked it from playlists over suspected drug connotations, even though the lyrics contain no explicit references to substances.
Oddly, the group's entire output was overseen by Teddy Randazzo, a 1950s vocalist who subsequently produced Little Anthony & the Imperials. The session yielded far more unsettling results than his résumé implied, as the band committed ominous psychedelia laced with Eastern-flavored melodies and peculiar sonic effects to tape. Six songs were cut during their sole studio date, several co-authored by Rusty Evans, whose similar experiments had already shaped the Deep's catalog. Only "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time" and its flip, "Rainbow Life," saw release at the time; the remaining four tracks, including an alternate take of "Rainbow Life," eventually appeared on Sundazed's 2000 six-song 10-inch EP The Third Bardo.
Following the group's 1967 dissolution, Monn launched a solo career with a Vanguard album in the late 1960s. He later adopted the name Chris Moon for a 1970 CBS/Kinetic release. Jeff Beck briefly explored enlisting Monn as vocalist in 1971, yet the two failed to connect and the idea collapsed. After its appearance in the Pebbles reissue series, "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time" attained cult status among 1960s collectors and was later chosen for the expanded Nuggets box set in the late 1990s.
Oddly, the group's entire output was overseen by Teddy Randazzo, a 1950s vocalist who subsequently produced Little Anthony & the Imperials. The session yielded far more unsettling results than his résumé implied, as the band committed ominous psychedelia laced with Eastern-flavored melodies and peculiar sonic effects to tape. Six songs were cut during their sole studio date, several co-authored by Rusty Evans, whose similar experiments had already shaped the Deep's catalog. Only "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time" and its flip, "Rainbow Life," saw release at the time; the remaining four tracks, including an alternate take of "Rainbow Life," eventually appeared on Sundazed's 2000 six-song 10-inch EP The Third Bardo.
Following the group's 1967 dissolution, Monn launched a solo career with a Vanguard album in the late 1960s. He later adopted the name Chris Moon for a 1970 CBS/Kinetic release. Jeff Beck briefly explored enlisting Monn as vocalist in 1971, yet the two failed to connect and the idea collapsed. After its appearance in the Pebbles reissue series, "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time" attained cult status among 1960s collectors and was later chosen for the expanded Nuggets box set in the late 1990s.
Albums
