King Of The Road

These foremost chroniclers of sunny 70 SoCal skate and surf culture hit the half pipe with the initial wave of desert rock dabblers but took a bit to get revved up. The hat trick of In Search of, The Action Is Go, and peak King of the Road still impresses mightily. New guitarist Bob Balch beefed up their guitar sound here, making “Hell on Wheels,” “Boogie Van,” and the title track (hell, pretty much the entirety of Side A) the ideal examples of the form, while Scott Hill’s deadpan delivery provides the perfect contrast to his backing band’s high-octane road hogging.