The reviews are in! Some of them anyway. With the book in stores, and the embargo lifted, national wire services, media websites, newspapers, radio and television stations have been running stories, most often mentioning the Top Ten of the Top 100, adding a few comments about what is and isn’t there, and some asking readers and viewers to send in their own lists. We’d like that on our site, too. Send in your own top ten or whatever, or even a list of albums that you feel should have been there.

For the most part, I’m happy to say reviews are highly positive. While there are lots of questions about why certain albums were rated highly, or not there, what most people pick up is the high quality of the book:hard-cover, full colour, coffee table-sized. It’s simply a stunning package, and I say that with no false modesty since I wasn’t involved in the art process, that praise heads straight to the people at Goose Lane Editions.

When I pitched the idea to the company, I asked if they could do the book the same way they publish the high-quality art books they do. My hope was that if the same care was taken for a music book, people would recognize that we were taking it seriously, presenting it as an important part of the Canadian culture.

Today on Jian Ghomeshi’s CBC Radio program Q, Sloan’s Chris Murphy went out of his way to praise the look of the book, and not just because his band have three discs in the Top 100. Chris is a critical guy (in the best sense of the word), doesn’t suffer foolishness, and wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it. It was fun to be on a panel for that interview, along with a couple of other music writers, and Jian. Congratulations to the new father by the way, Murphy now joining the breeding class. Another autograph for my copy of the book as well.

And another coffee mug. It’s almost a given that they give you a mug when you’re a guest on a show, and today I picked up the Breakfast Television cup, to go with my Canada AM trophy. You’re so stunned at that time of the morning that you think it’s a nice present, when really it’s just that nobody on staff wants to have to clean them after. Not true, the BT Toronto people were top-notch, and everyone wanted to gather around after to look at who was on the list.

The Top 100 made front-page news in Hamilton, with a big banner on page 1, and a bigger two-page article inside. Hamilton has reason to be proud, with so many acts from the city making the book, including Teenage Head twice, Stan Rogers (not a Maritimer by birth), King Biscuit Boy and Crowbar. But the biggest shock was the still almost-completely unknown 70’s group, Simply Saucer. Their album Cyborgs Revisted came in at number 36, and if you don’t know them, don’t worry, you’re in the vast majority. I’d never heard of them until the votes started pouring in. But I’ve come to feel that it’s the most incredible story in Canadian rock music history, maybe anyone’s music history. Saucer played hometown gigs through the 70’s, but not that many of them. Simply Saucer were simply not that popular. They had a total of one single out, in 1977, and broke up in 1979. That should have been the end of the story.

But a decade later, a music writer, Bruce Mowatt, was at a gig by an acoustic guy, Edgar Breau. The two talked, Bruce showed him his fanzine about the history of music, and Breau questioned why his old band wasn’t in it. Mowatt said it was because he’d never heard of them. He asked if they had any old music, and Breau said there was a demo tape of some songs recorded back in ’74, but he didn’t have a copy. It had been done in a couple of local guys’ mother’s basement, Bob and Daniel Lanois.They later went on to record some other people. The original tape was tracked back to the old group manager, who miraculously found it in a closet. Mowatt loved it so much, he pressed a thousand, and knew what to do with them..he sent them around to just the right taste-makers and word-spreaders, not just in but in the fanzine-collector-alternative store world. It also sold out. The legend had begun.

Breau himself resisted the attention at first. For years, he’d been told the stuff wasn’t good, and had put that period behind him. His own music had become vastly different, acoustic, and he hadn’t played an electric guitar since ’79. But after some years of badgering, he agreed to more reissues, and more and more the word spread, in the Europe. A couple of years ago, Uncut Magazine from England (a must-read, music fans, as well as Mojo) named it in the annual Top 20 reissues of the year.

Finally, in 2006, Edgar was convinced that this praise was real, that the band was not only being enjoyed by a whole new, and much bigger audience, but that there could also be a future in it as well as a past. With original bassist…and new members, the band played its first gig, the first time Edgar had gone electric since ’79. Last week, they played. They’ve opened for Pere Ubu. And get this: 34 years after hoping to get a record deal with that original demo tape, they now have one, with Sonic Unyon, and a new album arrives in January.

The reason I bring this all up is because my last interview of the day wasn’t with a paper or radio station, it was with a documentary movie producer. The Simply Saucer story is being made into a film, out next year. I was taped appearing on CFRB radio, talking about Simply Saucer, among other book-related items, and then did a full interview about how they got in the book. Can’t wait for my movie debut! But more important, I can’t wait for even more people to hear this incredible story.

But that was then. If it’s 3 AM, this must be Halifax. Toronto is but a memory, and now it’s time for the Top 100 media blitz to rock the Halifax Pop Explosion. Friday is more and more media, but that ends at supper and hopefully I’ll be able to check out some music. Saturday, I’m on a panel with a few old buddies from way back in the day to discuss 15 years of East Coast music, and then it’s time for the big book launch. If you are anywhere close, it’s at Tribeca in downtown Halifax, 5 PM, open and free-for-all. And by the way, in addition to a bit of fun between myself and scene-maker Mike Campbell (Joel Plaskett’s manager, and the former Much Music Mike of Mike and Mike), there’s also going to be a surprise musical guest, someone from The Top 100 Canadian Albums.

-Bob