O.C. POP MUSIC REVIEW : Social Distortion Needs Leap Year : The Fullerton band rings out 1992 with a celebration of its success, but can it make an artistic jump in ‘93?

One of the peak moments of Social Distortion’s decent but less than overpowering early show Thursday night at the Coach House came when Mike Ness took a sudden, leg-kicking leap to the front of the stage.

The move gave an explosive jolt to “1945,” one of Social Distortion’s oldest songs and still one of its most effective live numbers. Ness going airborne with his guitar, then landing to lean into a fierce solo with his Les Paul slung low on his thigh, is a definitive rock ‘n’ roll sight.

It suggested one of the key questions now facing Orange County’s most successful rock band of the early ‘90s: Can Ness also leap in a figurative sense? Will Social Distortion be able to make an artistic jump to new themes, moods and colors, to different, unpredictable modes of expression?

The band’s two New Year’s Eve shows were its first of ’92 in its home county, after months of playing hither and yon during what has been the busiest year of touring in the Fullerton-bred group’s 13-year existence. It was more of an occasion for recapping than for looking forward, although the 80-minute early set did include three new songs.

If you look back on Social Distortion’s career, its progression makes a great deal of sense, despite all the disorder the band went through during Ness’ nadir of heroin addiction during the early and mid-’80s.

The band’s early singles and its debut album in 1983, “Mommy’s Little Monster,” portrayed an alienated, obstreperous kid on the loose, smart enough to be aware of the consequences of the wild punk rock life but too busy exulting in the adventure to care. “Prison Bound,” released in 1988, re-established Social Distortion as a contender after years of floundering during Ness’ drug period. It’s the band’s darkest and most deeply personal record, reflecting the singer’s struggle to come to terms with his need to change.

“Social Distortion,” the major label debut album in 1990, nicely put Ness’ earlier days in perspective as he viewed them from a slightly removed and matured vantage point that let him look back with some sense of having made his mistakes and learned from them.

The ’92 release “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell” continued Ness’ portrait of a character who takes a dead-end kid’s pride in having lived through tough times and has the gumption to come out the other side with more sense than he had before, yet with the toughness he cherishes intact. It also brought the country influences Social Distortion had been developing to a fully realized peak that did justice both to the twang of country and the hard throb of SD’s signature punk sound.

With his knack for simple but memorable guitar riffs and catchy melodies and a store of good punk and roots-rock influences, Ness can probably keep making successful albums based on the point of view he’s established. But one wonders whether Social Distortion will have the capacity to surprise in the years to come if it follows that tack.

The band wasn’t seeking to present any surprises at the Coach House. The three new songs were straight-ahead rockers in which Ness, clad in a white T-shirt and a gangster’s fedora, went for dark drama.

The show-opening “Lewd Boy” was a punk-rock grinder that featured a Ness guitar solo with a surf-rock inspired hint of snaky Middle Eastern music. From what lyrics could be made out, it sounded like another tale of hard living. “Crown of Thorns” is a tough lament that finds Ness looking backward at his past yet again (“I wish I knew then what I know now”) while displaying his familiar melodic strength with playing that paralleled Neil Young’s ability to achieve consistently edgy and alluring guitar music with very simple means. “I’m in Love With My Car” ended the show with a driving ode to motoring as an aphrodisiac.

The new tunes accompanied a grab bag of songs drawn from all the albums except “Prison Bound.” The 17-song set was on the short side, leading one to wonder why Social Distortion ever would play a show and leave out its elegiac masterpiece, the title track from “Prison Bound.” Also missing from a set given more to swaggering material (and quite a bit of amiable cussing from Ness) was the philosophic “Story of My Life,” whose combination of sweet wistfulness and rocking gait makes it another highlight of the band’s catalogue.

SD stumbled early in the show as Ness experienced tuning problems with his guitar. He halted “Bad Luck,” tossing aside the instrument for adjustments. Rhythm guitarist Dennis Danell, drummer Christopher Reece and bassist John Maurer killed time with a desultory blues vamp that proved that Social Distortion is no jammers’ band (at that point, they could have used some impromptu help from Eric Von Herzen, the blues harmonica player who blew mightily on two other songs in the set). This attempt at instrumental filler illustrated how much Ness means to the band: The blues tune ended with a flourish when he got back his guitar and jumped in with some hard-edged licks, pumping some confidence into his three band mates, who had sounded thin and aimless without him.

Despite technical problems, Social Distortion kept its composure and got back on track with a good, hard-charging mid-set segment consisting of “Mommy’s Little Monster,” “Crown of Thorns” and “1945.” Later, with “Sick Boys” and “When She Begins to Rock,” the band established a good, countrified, mid-tempo groove.

But while Ness expended plenty of bodily fluids, either by sweating or spitting, he couldn’t take the show over the top. The sound mix never properly elevated Reece and Maurer’s backing vocals. Harmony vocals are deftly handled on SD’s albums, and are necessary to cushion Ness’ distinctive but one-dimensional snarl of a voice--a voice so nasal and chesty that if he ever sells out to a commercial sponsor, it probably will be Dristan or Sudafed. With the harmonies lost in the mix, an important element was gone. “Bad Luck” in particular lost its special spark.

The audience for this homecoming was appreciative, but the performance never hit the sort of sustained peak that might grab the fans and lift them out of their seats. Ness and company didn’t get riled by the lack of a standing tribute, as many aggressive bands do at the Coach House. Social Distortion’s attitude was matter of fact: This is what we are, and you can make of it what you will.

But is what they are the same as what they are going to be? We’ll have to wait until album No. 5 to find out whether the next chapter in the story of Social Distortion’s life is going to be a story we’ve already heard.