Hypocrite

Ryan Downe | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 4, 1996)
• Original Release Date: June 4, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001E99
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,102 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Judas

2. Vegas

3. Comets & Stars

4. Where Am I Gonna Run To

5. Through the Window

6. Damned With You

7. Scratch

8. I Shot You Down

9. Japan

10. The Machine

11. Mojo

12. Melancholy Baby

13. The Hypocrite

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing...., February 5, 2004

By 

Ryann C. Gray (Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hypocrite (Audio CD)

I am actually very upset that Ryan didn't take off like he should have. His music may be a little too macabre for today's mainstream audience, talking about killing himself over a woman who left him on one track, and on another playing a peeping tom to a young woman who entices him by putting on a show. It's amazing, and I suggest everyone taste a little of his world if you get a chance.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Perfect!!!!, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hypocrite (Audio CD)

Ryan Downe is quite simply the most talented musical artist I have ever listened to. Nobody knows who the hell he is, but once you listen to The Hypocrite you'll be hooked. Downe is true alternative: haunting sophisticated, and rocking all at once. You NEED to have this album!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Highly Underrated Gem from the 1990s, September 6, 2010

By 

Ian R. Titus - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hypocrite (Audio CD)

I've owned Ryan Downe's solo album THE HYPOCRITE since its release in 1996 and like other reviewers here I am appalled that this album never reached the very audience who would readily embrace Ryan's darkly humorous lyrics and sonic brilliance. I now feel I have to add my two cents and help those who would connect with THE HYPOCRITE find their way to this overlooked gem.

My introduction to Ryan Downe came through MTV when they featured the video for "Scratch." There was something about the starkness of the video, the smudged makeup on Ryan's face, combined with the passionate, androgynous singing and driven music (which reminded me of Garbage's excellent song "Vow") that left such an impression I became obsessed with the song and had to hear more. So I headed to the record store and bought THE HYPOCRITE. Fourteen years later it continues to be one of my favorite albums.

"I've been a crooked politician/A leader without vision or shame/Hung with the aristos/Found their type of deviance tame," he sings on the opener "Judas," declaring that this will be no ordinary listening experience. The music touches on elements of glam and industrial rock, featuring loud melodic guitars, muscular drumming, sinuous bass lines, touches of strings and tuneful electronic effects. Ryan's vocals may be hard to take for some -- unashamed of emotion and excess he can growl and whisper sinisterly one moment only to soar diva-like with the passion of Freddy Mercury or Prince the next -- but they are never less than genuine and should appeal to anyone open to such naked emotion in music.

THE HYPOCRITE features everything from glammed-out rock to slower, more acoustic driven numbers like the wonderful "I Shot You Down," told from the point of view of a gun-toting assassin that recalls film noir anti-heroes played by the likes of Robert Mitchum, Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart. In fact, there is a film noir feel to the whole album, with its tales of dames and crime and carnal obsession, from an encounter with a prostitute in the playful "Japan" to the "Red light screaming/Brownstone seething" of "Mojo." The latter part of "The Machine" sounds like something influenced by Peter Gabriel's early 80s psycho-sexual tales ("Intruder" from Gabriel's third self-titled solo album comes to mind) and "Comets and Stars" delights with surreal lyrics: "Feed me comets and stars in the evening to ease my way/Get me into a jar by squeezing then paste a label saying something."

I would give this album five stars but the one drawback for me is the song "Where Am I Gonna Run To." It's the only song I cannot stand, mainly because of the utterly self-defeating lyrics; it somehow brings the album down a notch for me and I often skip it. I realize that others really like this song but personally it seems out of place in this otherwise nearly-flawless album. Yet don't let my one quibble deter you; if anything mentioned in this review resonates please don't hesitate to buy Ryan Downe's THE HYPOCRITE. Listen and spread the word. It's that good, and then some.