This One's For Pinky Tuscadero

Various Artists - "Fonzie Favorites" (1976)

Aaaayyyyyyy Friends!

Step into my office and order yourself a malted because tonight on Vinyl in the Valley we're listening to Fonzie's favorites on the ol' turntable.  And its coooooool!

People might forget how huge "Happy Days" was in the late 70's.  Amongst all of the merchandising inspired by the show was this little treasure of an LP containing over 20 tracks of early rock standards like "Splish Splash", "Barbara Ann", "Charlie Brown", "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Great Balls of Fire", "In the Still of the Night" and, of course, "The Happy Days Theme Song".  As the liner notes state:  "No!!! The Fonz has not taken to singing on this album.  Better!!! He has chosen favorite 50's records to share with you."  

Fonzie gives this album
"Two Thumbs Up!"
(Potsie could not be reached for comment!)

There's even a cardboard fold out on the back cover so you can stand the album upright while listening to it!  Its like the Fonz is right there in your living room!

One of the LP's "novelty" tracks, "The Fonzarelli Slide" contains speaking parts from Happy Days characters interacting with characters from "Laverne & Shirley" and "Welcome Back, Kotter."   This is pretty amazing because (a) the voices are clearly not those of the original actors and, in fact, are poorly imitated, and (b) not to nitpick but these fictional characters existed in different decades and thousands of miles apart so chances are there's no way Fonzie could have been been the "new leader of the Sweathogs!" 

Which reminds me, let's all pour out a little malted in remembrance of actor Ron Palillo ("Horshack") who passed away this week!

RATING: 3.5 Ralph Malphs out of 5

Alternate Titles for this post: 
"Sit On It!"
"Fonzie Schemes"
"Jumping the Shark"
"Exactamundo"
"Wisconsin Cheese"
"Where's Chachi"