No doubt there are many "worthier" French acts that we could be discussing, but I'd rather listen to Francoise H than, ooh, let's say the majority of French music I've ever heard. I just finished reading a Nick Drake biography and there were some interesting quotations from Hardy on how much she loved his music, and how she was contemplating doing a few covers of his at the time (late 60s) but they didn't really work.

A propos de musique francaise, I got a GREAT compilation CD recently that I've been playing to death, called "La Belle Epoque â€" EMI's French Girls 1965â€"1968". It's all good stuff â€" quirky, often very funky, stylishly arranged and VERY 60s in an Austin Powers kind of way. There's a group on there called Les Roche Martin, who sound like a cross between the Swingle Singers and Os Mutantes - fantastic.