A High-Voltage Reminder of Punk Rock’s Finest Hours

****

SOCIAL DISTORTION

“Live at the Roxy”

Time Bomb

Better than a conventional studio “best of,” this career-spanning live set sizzles, swaggers and flexes muscles that few other bands have. Front-man Mike Ness gives free rein to his blustery pride, making “Live at the Roxy” as macho as rock can get without getting lunkheaded.

Ness’ tunefully roared vocals are close to overbearing--he’s going for smash-in-the-face impact here, not subtlety. But the fundamental strength of his writing over the past 19 years supports that approach. Social Distortion’s best songs--and this selection is all first-rate stuff--have stories, context, depth and, yes, a deep core of reflection and even sensitivity. Ness’ big, chesty, Alpha male growl isn’t just there for self-assertion--although that’s part of it--but to give the vivid experiences he sings about as bold a telling as he can.

In the seven songs drawn from SD’s early-’80s singles and its 1983 debut album, “Mommy’s Little Monster,” Ness’ pride in being a rebellious, socially vilified punk misfit brims over. But if his onstage reminiscing tends to put a romantic veneer on those experiences, the songs always point clearly to the consequences of acting tough: “I love the sound when I smash the glass / If I get caught they’re gonna kick my ass,” he sings in “Telling Them,” and in “Mommy’s Little Monster,” we meet a liberated punkette who learns the cost of excitement and acting out urges the hard way: “Just what happened to her face? / It could have happened at any place.”

For Ness, the greatest satisfaction in being punk back when punk was a threat seems to have come not from getting away with it, but from paying the cost of his thrill-seeking. James Joyce wrote (I’m paraphrasing from memory here) that “the sentimentalist is he who would enjoy without paying the immense cost of a thing done.” Authenticity overshadows sentimentality in every way, and Social Distortion is as authentic as a rock band can be. SD’s stuff rises from Ness’ most searing experiences on both sides of the hump of maturity, and it always rings true.

Culled from a three-night stand in April, “Live at the Roxy” offers an explosive retelling of the stories of his life. Drummer Chuck Biscuits’ now-headlong, now nimbly syncopated thwacking gives the music a repeatedly uncoiling tension and momentum, and Ness’ lead guitar is a very live third rail throwing off sparks--his playing on “Let It Be Me” is an especially high-voltage example. Dennis Danell, on rhythm guitar, and John Maurer, on bass, churn away in a low road-rumble, like the rolling wheels of a big rig.

The two covers are superb: Ness’ take on the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” is such an unvarnished, domineering piece of nasty business that any DA hearing it might consider it prima facie evidence for a case of domestic abuse. And “Ring of Fire” becomes a line of fire in SD’s machine-gunning punk version (as always, Ness mistakenly introduces the song as written by Johnny Cash; the Man in Black’s classic is itself a cover of a Carter Sisters number written by Cash’s future wife, June Carter, and Merle Kilgore).

More deliberate songs--including the elegiac “I Was Wrong,” “Story of My Life,” “Ball & Chain,” “No Pain, No Gain” and “Prison Bound”--give the set dimension and variety. “Prison Bound,” SD’s greatest song, loses some poignancy as Ness emphasizes its they-won’t-break-me bad-guy pride over the tragic sense of waste that makes the song so emotionally gripping. And this can’t be a fully representative best-of without “Dear Lover,” “Untitled,” “When the Angels Sing” and “Down Here With the Rest of Us,” songs from SD’s most recent studio album, “White Light, White Heat, White Trash,” that marked Ness’s growing willingness to project vulnerability along with swagger.

But SD fans will be too bowled over by the force of the band’s first live album to care about such omissions, and newcomers who admire well-written songs and an elemental, charged delivery will find this an ideal way to get acquainted with Orange County’s greatest and most durable rock band.

Ratings range from * (poor) to **** (excellent), with three stars denoting a solid recommendation.