With all the get-hip-with-Roky revitalizing going on and leading up to the documentary You’re Going to Miss Me, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I weren’t highlighting his best and, as it mostly goes, routinely underacknowledged recordings.
Never Say Goodbye – comprised of six tracks recorded in 1971 during or shortly after his time at Rusk State Hospital, four home recordings from 1974, and a few from the 1980′s – reveal him as the songwriter who best typifies the free-love side of the rock’n roll spirit. These are recordings that sound as if you’re overhearing a performance of a grassy-knoll hippy who has a genuine claim to his attitude and don’t come across as self-centered or too high. I can’t say I’ve heard too many of those. Even Judee Sill is over the edge style-wise a lot of moments in her brief, but impressive career. Though they’re both known for drug use in some manner, Roky transcends that here.
