Track Listing

1. Fragile... Handle with Care
2. I Didn't Mean to Turn You On
3. Like I Will
4. I Will Wait for You
5. Who's It Gonna Be
6. Stay with Me
7. When You Look in My Eyes
8. I Need You Now

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #205785 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Album Description
Cherelle exploded onto the music scene as among the first female artists to benefit from the writing and production magic of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Her debut album Fragile (1984) boasted the relentlessly rhythmic Top 10 dance smash 'I Didn't Mean To Turn You On'. 24 bit digitally remastered. Tabu Records. 2002.

Customer Reviews

Debut album Remasted with new liner notes!
This album has been remastered very nicely. All of the juicy 80's goodness is preserved very well. Some songs do not hold up well over such a long time but I do appreciate the ability to listen to them as I was too young when this album was put out. Fragile and I didn't mean to turn you on are truly the boss tracks on this album.
The second album High priority was clearly a more consistent album
musicaly if not in subject matter. This debut album is all over the
place and definitley fits with the other stuff Jam and Lewis was doing at the time. The Liner notes were very informative and revealing considering the admissions that the Mistakes that Jam and Lewis made on the first three Cherrelle albums Janet Jackson profitted from with each of her following albums. (you can hear it when you hear these tracks next to Janet's from her first two albums with Jam and Lewis) Tabu really needs to release Cherrelle's Affair album (remastered) some time soon with more Liner notes. A great buy

Cherrelle's Debut CD...
..Is now 22 years old!! That's right Cherrelle's 'Fragile' CD is 22 years old, and big thanks to The Right Stuff for reissuing this classic (which was previously out of print & only available as an overpriced Japanese Import!). As for the CD, it sounds great, and unlike other reviewers, I enjoyed the ballads, which balance things out IMO. 'Fragile' was produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, who were WHITE HOT back in 1984, and Cherrelle was the perfect muse for the 'Flyte Tyme Sound'. All the jams still sound good to me, and Cherrelle's vocals were a suprise (she can REALLY SING!!). Now back to this remastered CD! While I really appreciate the stellar liner notes by A.Scott Galloway, a few bonus tracks would've been more than welcome, so I remastered the joint MYSELF, and included the following bonus tracks...

9. When You Look In My Eyes - Extended Mix (7:34)
10. Like I Will - Tokyo Remix (6:34)

*I also included 4 Jam & Lewis tracks originally meant for Cherrelle, but given to Thelma Houston for Side A of her 'Qualifying Heat' album (Also from 1984)....

11. Guess It Must Be Love (7:00)
12. You Used To Hold Me So Tight (5:24)
13. Fantasy & Heartbreak (4:41)
14. I'd Rather Spend The Bad Times With You,
Then Spend The Good Times With Somebody New (5:39)

All in all, I'd recommend 'Fragile' if you enjoy the CLASSIC 'Flyte Tyme Sound', or if you're simply a fan
of Cherrelle, who's OVERDUE FOR A NEW CD! Maybe Jimmy Jam
& Terry Lewis can find some time!

Peace, SD
(of 'Chaka's World')

Get Turned On!
With "Fragile" (released in 1984), we saw the busting down door entrance of one of the 80's most underrated and spunky singers, a "dainty, petite and sweet" Cherrelle. Under the guidance of super producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who at the time were fresh off of giving the SOS Band some fantastic songs, Cherrelle's debut album got the Minneapolis funk treatment.
"Fragile" (in its remastered format) is impressive yet a slight rough around the edges. The album starts of with the crash of glass and then into the sharp sparkling funk of "Fragile (Handle With Care)". With jumpy beats, a rousing sax and even glass tinkling sounds, makes this track purely a classic. It's funky, sassy and in your face. Great lyrics and Cherrelle sings this effortlessly. Her pride and joy, and Top Ten hit, "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" is the ULTIMATE 80's dance track. Skittish, brash and keyboard ridden. Also a song not like any other, it's a diss song. Who does a song about dissing someone? Only Cherrelle! Singers like Robert Palmer and Mariah Carey tried to recapture the magic(I cringe at Robert Palmer's version, Mariah's I have and she does pay homage to the real music-Jam and Lewis did produce the track for her-and sings her butt off) but its Cherrelle's song and frankly her version is the best. Duh! "Like I Will" is the last up-tempo song and compared to the two before it, it's not that fabolous. It's actually quite dry. The music is repetitative and has that kind of Prince vibe to it, that cheeky kind of music. I was surprised that the rest of this album consists of nothing but ballads. I was actually disappointed because it was a tease at the beginning, like this album is going to be smokin' of dance hits and then wham! hits you with some mid-tempo, heart on sleeve ballads. "I Will Wait For You" (the first track not to be produced by Jam and Lewis) is a sweet suttle ballad, kinda bland but a generic 80's ballad. "Who's It Gonna Be" is Jam and Lewis produced and has a distant keyboard with a dark, mid-tempo vibe to it. I like this song. All about a love triangle and picking "who's it gonna be"? Cherrelle cries a bit at the end, which is something I don't understand and it seems out of place. "Stay With Me" is another piece of generic 80's mid-tempo groove while "When You Look In My Eyes" is outstanding. Dark, enduring and flows nicely. A very underrated ballad. It starts off a bit like SOS Band's "Tell Me If You Still Care", that repetiative drum and then goes into the ripping keyboard. Great song and Cherrelle sings with ease. To finish off the album, the out-of-date "I Need You Now" is another slice of generic 80's pop.
Cherrelle's debut album I was kinda dissapointed with in a way that a bulk of it was ballads and not very good ones at that. The best cuts on here are the ones that Jam and Lewis produced and contributed to. To the other three tunes, whoever did those, it's embrassing to put those three next to the Jam-Lewis tunes.
You can tell how Jam and Lewis were experimenting with Cherrelle and how Janet Jackson (whom Jam and Lewis were later to work with in 1986) benefited from the mistakes they made on Cherrelle. The non-Jam and Lewis tracks sound dated, like dated post-disco sounding ballads, with the rousing, "la la's" and kind of hokey bass riffs (listen to the beginning of "Stay With Me" to hear what I mean). Cherrelle's later albums, the quirky yet more consistant 1986's "High Priorty" and stunning 1988's "Affair" were to be better efforts but by that time Janet was a singing deity, with 1986's "Control" under her belt (5 Top Ten hits anyone?) and 1989's "Rhythm Nation" on the way, Cherrelle got unfortunately lost in the shuffle.
To say the least, I like Cherrelle alot better than Janet (though I love Janet and own her albums as well) because she seemed to have much more potential (Janet's career is easy...The Jacksons, anyone?) and she also had these quirky and funny tunes that are just music heaven. Cherrelle also has a better range than Janet and that usually gets ignored. The woman can sing and later when she paired with Jam-Lewis client, smooth crooner Alexander O'Neal, the results are immaculate.
I suggest to anyone who is getting into Cherrelle's music catalog to get "Affair" and "High Priority" first and then this one last. I own "Affair" and have "High Priority" on my MP3 player and I'm glad I got these first before "Fragile" because you can hear the differance and how much Cherrelle got better as she kept releasing more albums.
To tell you to rush out and buy this is saying a lie, gather up the latter of Cherrelle's music and then get this. The two best tracks are "Fragile" and "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" no doubt about that, but really get this if for "When You Look In My Eyes" and "Who's It Gonna Be", the best ballads off of this set. Also the liner notes are interesting by telling Cherrelle's story and a behind look at the making of this album. Also it's remastered so the sound quality is excellent.
Still a rather enjoyable album and a solid debut album. Better "handle this one with care" because music like this only comes around once!

JEN'S TOP 5
1.I Didn't Mean To Turn You On
2. Fragile
3. When You Look In My Eyes
4. Who's It Gonna Be
5. Like I Will