I purchased the "Up Tempo" album by the Florida Boys last week and finally got around to transferring it to cd. I think this is the best one of the Florida Boys Atwood-Todd ear recordings. I actually think it is the Florida Boys best ever. The reasons I feel this way is that I think Les does his best lead singing on this album. I've always admired LKes for his perseverance and for his business acumen, but I've never thought he was inthe top 25 as far as great lead singers go, but he sings with some great energy and passion on this recording. He does a good job on "Who Am I?", but his vocals on "Count Your Blessings," and "Let God Abide" are some of his best singing.

Other high points are the arrangement on "The Fire Song" where Tommy and Billy sing in unison on the second verse while Les and Glen sing the other harmony part. I've always loved the arrangements on "Count Your Blessings" and "Higher Ground." It was these arrangements of these that formed my first impressions of these songs. I've always liked these arrangements better than the original hymn arrangements I've heard sung in churches. Some other high points are Glen's smooth vocals on "Palms of Victory, Tommy's lead on "Old Fashioned Love" and Billy's solos on "I Want to Know," So Many Reasons," and "The Fire Song" are very strong. Billy sang with a buzz saw quality on the low notes, but he could also be very melodic in his upper register.

I love this album. It is one of my all time favorites.

Mike, this was the first Florida Boys LP I ever purchased. Very entertaining song selection.

Did I miss the trivea question ?

I've been listening to this album some more and have concluded that this one is the least "country sounding" of the ones from the Atwood-Todd era.

That would stand to reason. It was Atwood's first LP with the Florida Boys, and I'm sure his country/bluegrass roots took a while to become ingrained in this traditional quartet.