Welcome to the pilot episode of SECTS AND BOOKS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL - in honour of Canadian rock bands so smart that their albums actually need literary footnotes.

Our guests today: The second greatest Canadian rock band (next to the Tragically Hip, which referenced a John Cage biography on Music@Work) - Our Lady Peace.

The band is currently on a cross-Canada promotional blitz - including club shows, press conferences, online chats, fan club activities, the works - to hype their latest album, Spiritual Machines. It hits stores Dec. 12.

THE CONCERT: Hardy fans queued up more than 18 hours for the chance to see Our Lady Peace perform at the 620-seat Dinwoodie Lounge on Sunday night. The band played that same club way back when (1994 or so), but has since been drawing crowds 10 times as large.

I asked one fan, "Was it worth the wait?" She replied without hesitation, "Heck, yeah!" although she used a different word than "heck."

It sure was. Although I didn't personally wait for 18 hours, I could feel their pain.

By the end of the two-hour-plus concert, fans learned the concept behind Spiritual Machines, got to hear the record live in its entirety, were treated to all the old favourites plus a Beatles song, heard a moving story of a critically ill Our Lady Peace fan, shared in a gleeful shot at the American election and were witness to Raine Maida singing his lungs out while hanging upside down from the rafters. (Two fans who tried that same stunt were kicked out - do as he says, not as he does.) All that and a drum solo, too. The band pulled out all the stops. It was a great show. The new material stood up wonderfully.

Having seen the band numerous times - though not as much as the Hip - I enjoyed this concert much more than the arena and stadium gigs Our Lady Peace has done in recent years. It could've been the closeness and immediacy of the smaller space, but as the band pointed out during a post-show press conference, "We've never been this good live." There's nothing wrong with boasting when it's true.

THE CONCEPT: Move over, Alan Parsons. Stand aside, Radiohead. Our Lady Peace has dealt out that dreaded of all rockological phenomenons: The "concept album."

As Maida explained during a phone interview last week, the album Spiritual Machines was inspired by a book called The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, by Ray Kurzweil (an inventor chiefly known in music circles for his synthesizers).

"It ain't The Catcher in the Rye," Maida says. "For me, you just pick pieces of it, try to understand it and then try your best to move on. It's a tough read."

Comparable to Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time for its sheer weight of subject matter, Kurzweil's book contains history and predictions for the future as it concerns the effects of technology on human evolution, bulked with references to support every claim. Imagine if Blade Runner were a documentary, Maida suggests.

Guitarist Mike Turner - who seems like the kind of guy you could discuss Star Trek trivia with - discovered it first and then passed it around. The book had such a profound impact on the band, Maida says, that they wanted to name the album after Kurzweil. Turner sent him an e-mail, not really expecting much. The writer replied within two hours. To wit: "Sure. Go ahead. Anything else you need?" He also agreed to read excerpts from his book on the record.

"We started this dialogue," Maida says. "It's unbelievable that we were able to connect with this guy, this brilliant man, without even trying. It was exciting.

"It helped everyone stay up three hours later every night. We wanted to get this done. There was just this huge fire under us."

The CD's artwork is the result of another bit of synchronicity. The band contacted artist Oli Goldsmith, who just happened to live a few blocks away from OLP's studio and who just happened to be reading The Age of Spiritual Machines when they called. The band hired him without hesitation. Goldsmith also directed the first music video, despite the fact he'd never done anything like it before.

"All these little things started happening," Maida says. "We thought: this is happening for a reason. It's not a coincidence - well, obviously it is - but it's a good coincidence. This whole album just felt so organic and so unlike anything we've done before."

Whether the subject matter goes over the heads of fans or not, Spiritual Machines is sure to be a hit. It may be a concept album, but it doesn't stray too much from the basics: Good, solid, melodic rock - with a little extra grist for the brain, should one desire it. As Maida puts it, "We don't sing songs about chicks and cars."

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence is available at finer bookstores everywhere. Tune in again next time for OLP's Rock 'n' Roll Book Club.