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Dionysos, from Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada were the very first Quebecois rock band to record an album in ''joual'', Quebec's own slang heavy variation of street French. They recorded a 45 in 1969, a bluesy track called ''Suzie''. Their first album ''Le Grand Jeu'' from 1971 played a rough and heavy bluesy psychy prog rock topped by gruff vocals. They disbanded in 74 and regrouped in 76 but the early roughness was gone and replaced by a jazzier and poppier sound.

Founded in 1972, Maneige was an instrumental prog / jazz fusion group, and was one of the Quebec progressive rock scene's longest running and most consistent bands. "Ma neige" means "my snow"?

Sloche was a progressive rock/fusion band from Québec 1971-1976, one of those incredible bands from Quebec progressive explosion of the mid-70's that sadly only managed two albums. This is their debut. The band's name comes from the word used in Quebec for wet snow (slush).

"Sloche" is also the name of a frozen beverage sold by the Quebec convenience store chain Couche-Tard. "A good source of crushed ice."

Pollen was formed in 1972. The name of the band came by chance when, in the kitchen of the house where they lived together, they spotted a jar of flower pollen. Their self-titled debut was issued in 1976. Unfortunately, the group split up towards the end of 1976 as the music industry was rapidly changing.

Another obscure group from the fertile Quebec prog scene of the 1970s. The group "Brégent" is sometimes listed as "Dionne - Bregent", a percussion/keyboard duo from Montreal. "Pour Partir Ailleurs" (for going elsewhere) is their 2nd.

The group "Brégent" is sometimes listed as "Dionne - Bregent". "…Et Le Troisième Jour " is their debut.

Painter and musician born in Montreal, Canada in 1949. After graduating at Quebec University, he started to work in multimedia, arts and music. In 1975 he began two musical projects, one with a full band which resulted in the prog-fusion album "Le Komuso À Cordes", and a conceptual experimental work that eventually became "La Chambre Nuptiale". In 1981 he ceased musical activities and changed to painting and sculpting instead.

Maelstrom recorded a full album in 1976, at the height of Quebec's first progressive rock era. After failing to find a record contract back in the day, the master tapes were forgotten. So forgotten, in fact, that nobody heard any word about them for 40 years! The music was finally released in 2016, and finds its way onto many lists of the best music from the “Rock Progressif Québécois” scene.

The group known as "Contraction" started as a backing band for Frank Dervieux's "Dimension M". Their second release, "La Bourse Ou La Vie" is an excellent indefinable mix of influences, like the rest of the Rock Progressif Québécois scene, where a slight jazzy prog-rock seems to be the prime ingredient, but hardly the only one. The album's name is a reaction to the heavy pressures of their record label to ask them to be more commercial, but they refused, using that catch phrase "your money or your life".

So the music industry taught them a lesson, squelching another creative group.

Cano (or CANO) were a Canadian progressive rock band in the 1970s and 1980s. Cano evolved out of the Coopérative des artistes du Nouvel Ontario (CANO - meaning 'Artists' Cooperative of Northern Ontario'), an artists' collective established in Sudbury, Ontario in 1970. (Okay, so technically not Québécois, but Francophone.) They were the most popular and internationally successful musical group in Franco-Ontarian history.

Offenbach emerged in 1970 from the transformation of various bands throughout the 1960s. They spent a few years in France touring and filming a documentary of the band called "Tabarnac", then released music as a double LP with some success. The group endured until as recently as 2018, but their style changed considerably.

Harmonium started as a folk band, but quickly morphed into a progressive and symphonic rock band. Harmonium was hugely popular in Quebec towards the end of the 1970s. For example "L'Heptade" has sold over 400,000 copies since its release, despite its lenghthy songs and complex arrangements.

Ville Émard Blues Band was a progressive rock / jazz / blues / world music band from Montréal, Québec. Founded in 1972 as a "super group" collective with a revolving roster of musicians led by co-founder Bill Gagnon. Active 1972 to 1975. Almost all of the members were simultaneously members of other bands, such as Harmonium and Contraction, or session players for solo artists.

This compilation, Complete VEBB Au Complet 1973-1975, was reissued in 2004 on the ProgQuébec record label.

Toubabou was formed in 1974 by members of Ville Émard Blues Band, in collaboration with several African musicians.

Their 2 records were rereleased on this double disc.

Charles Kaczynski was a violinist with the group Conventum in the late 1970s. After leaving the group, he released his solo masterpiece Lumière de la Nuit on which he played more than a dozen instruments. An obscurity long treasured by collectors, it was finally reissued on CD by ProgQuebec in 2005.

By the end of the 1970's the thriving prog scene in Quebec had fizzled out (as it had everywhere else). But Miriodor defiantly formed in 1980, creating a rock-oriented post-modern chamber music, with humorous overtones. And amazingly they are still active. Rencontres is their 1986 debut.

Karcius was founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2001. This is an instrumental group aiming at playing a mix of progressive rock and fusion jazz music.

Conventum is one of those typical Quebecois projects to have come in the second half of the 70's. They were developing a progressive music crossing chamber music and rock. Conventum can be appreciated by progheads into "chamber rock" music, the way only Quebecois, the Finns and Belgians can do it.