Nominate one not on the list if you could as well. 

Darwin, Anabelas, MDK, Sommerabend. Fifth one is harder, probably I like Io Sono Nato Libero most of the rest.

Many others could be nominated, but just to come up with something unknown, I recommend Epitafio a la Permanencia by Un Festin Sagital from Chile, even though (as Anabelas) it doesn't have that much singing on it.

I'll pick Hybris - Anglagard, Per Un Amico - PFM, Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh - Magma, and K.A - Magma from the list, and Arachnoid - Arachnoid not in the list.

 

My favorite is Magma. I can say that without any doubt. But I still felt like voting for Storia De Un Minuto (and my most listened to Magma are probably their two first)

Spam? 

Anyway, my favorite non-English lyrics album rn is Kaipa (1975).

5ème Saison

Anabelas

Felona e Sorona

Per un Amico

These three albums you mentioned are excellent. 

Wow ...  no ANGE?

Not voting! Although I view Banco and Ange equally!

I think you mean a bigger scene to be known abroad. We can listen to prog from all over the world these days because of the internet, but before that, unless a band would make it big, not that many people would know about it. 

http://www.progarchives.com/Bands-country.asp?country=71" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Bands-country.asp?country=71

Hi everyone, I would definitely vote for "Si todo hiciera crack"  from Crack, an excellent album.

My second choice would be Debut from Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso. 

^ Great album, indeed. But from this list I'd choose Io Sono Nato Libero.

But there's so much more non-English prog...

At least 15 albums I really love here...

Los Jaivas - Alturas de Macchu Picchu

BMS - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

Anglagard - Hybris

PFM - Storia di un minuto

Novalis - Sommerabend

From France, I recommend Nemo's Coma.

O.K. This is my shortlist:

it's a multiple vote poll, you can choose up to 5. 

Phetolelo ya Popeye Monna wa Mosesiši ke gopola ke gola e be e le: Ke Popeye Monna wa Mosesiši, toot toot. O dula ka paneng ya go gadika, toot toot. O ile a bulela gase ke moka a fiša lerete. Ke Popeye Monna wa Mosesiši, toot toot!

Define big. Or, at least, how you measure it. The British prog bands tend to be the giants everyone knows. So big, I guess. The RPI scene is massive, though not so well known. So big, I guess, But in comparison to a lot of other countries, I don’t think France has ever been only a “small” contributor to the prog scene.

Quite apart from the Zeuhl scene, which was (at least initially) a predominantly French phenomenon, in the “classic era” there are (relatively speaking) well-known acts such as Ange, Atoll, Mona Lisa, Orion, Pentacle (even if they released only one album), Pulsar

Not to mention my favourite Canterbury Scene band is not from Canterbury, but from France: Moving Gelatine Plates

Zeuhl wasn’t the only avant and out there French music, as some of the famous “classic” RIO/Avant artists are also from France, such as Art Zoid and Etron Fou Leloublan. Other artists of the French avant scene from this vague time period can also be found across other PA genres such as Progressive Electronic and Krautrock, as (like Zeuhl), they are more of a unique French fusion of styles, rather than able to be neatly pigeonholed into a PA genre.

And all this is without getting into the more modern era, where a number of French acts are incredibly influential in Experimental/Post and Tech/Extreme prog music; as well as there being plenty of great bands that are still in the realm of the more traditional symphonic and neo sounds. There continues to also be a great number of French RIO/Avant bands.

It seems to me less that France did not and does nor have a big prog scene, so much as you have simply not investigated it. I admit I don’t have a lot of French prog from the ‘70s and ‘80s, but in terms of contemporary prog (especially from the last 10 or 20 years) I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of French prog in my collection - almost all, in PA terms, heavy, eclectic, avant or one of the three prog metal genres. My own experience with French prog is therefore limited, and yet already “big” compared to other countries.

I have not mentioned any folk or psych, nor jazz fusion or progressive electronic (outside the avant), and there are no doubt plenty of examples others more well-versed in French prog could give you.

      Ones not listed would be Latte e Miele's Papillon and Triade's La Storia di Sabazio.

          

2 - Anglagard

3 - PFM

4 - Le Orme

5 - Harmoniun

6 - Invisible

Great Poll!!!

And an honorable mention to the early Kaipa albums and Arbeit Macht Frei by Area

Oh and for Piniol, who speaks... gibberish.

MDK for its uniqueness. Harmonium, Anglagard and Banco close seconds 

siLLy puPPy wrote: Go be go na le mošemane yo a bitšwago Jim Kelly Yo a bego a na le mpa ye kgolo ye e nonnego Ge a botšišwa gore o jele eng A realo poleiting ya ka E be e le mokgobo o mogolo o mogolo wa Kim’s Jelly E be e le e segišago. Ge ke be ke sa le mofsa nna le mogwera wa ka re be re bapala baanegwa go tšwa go khathune ya Popeye. O ile a bolela sereto se se beakantšwe go sehlogo sa Popeye Ke Popeye monna wa mosesiši Ke dula ka lepokising la ditlakala Ke ya swimmin’ le basadi ba ba hlobotšego Ke Popeye monna wa mosesiši Ga se a ke a tseba ge e ba seo e be e le tlholo ya gagwe goba aowa. Pretty ribald bakeng sa bana ba mengwaga ya rena. Direto tše dibotse tše di golofetšego, akere?

Hi,

Dang ... Silly ... you been smoking some dandies over there!

Very nice thread and my faves from the list are

Triana (El Patio) - Triana

It would be French bands such as Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes, Nino Ferrer, Moving Gelatine Plates, and Malicorne.

Runner Ups: PFM, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Magma, and Samla Mammas Manna.

no need to be rude.

We all can think of bands that are missing here, that does not mean this is not a good poll.