Customer Reviews

Fragile

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

..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')

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

This was Cherelle's first album, defining her standing as one of the funkier artists of the 80's. "Fragile" was the first single, very upbeat, funky and danceable. What most listeners will recognize is "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On". This was a big R&B hit, and later the song became recognizeable to mass audiences as Robert Palmer covered it with his own version.

The beautiful 25 year old woman from Detroit explodes onto the music scene with her amazing, yet underated debut lp with some Minneapolis flavor and a lil' LA soul. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had made a name for themselves after producing their first #1 hit for Cheryl Lynn in early 1984 ("Encore") as well as producing some wonders works for bands like Dynasty, Klymaxx, and SOS Band. Now they needed a first lady of Flyte Tyme with plenty of swagger and they came across Cherrelle. She scored with the funky anthem, "I Did'nt Mean To Turn You On" in the summer of 1984 (#2 on the R&B charts) and spinned many heads on the hard edged title cut. She gets scandalous and sassy on the mellowed down "When You Look In My Eyes" and "Like I Will." On the latter song mentioned, she solidifies her sassiness with the words "Put some soy sauce on It" of blends well with the Japanese theme stringed groove that Jam and Lewis threw in with the 808s! Thats why the Minneapolis Sound are a genius machine of fine worksmanship! My favorite track is the emotional "Who's It Gonna Be" of which musically sounds simular to Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" of which also came out in 1984 (from Purple Rain soundtrack). "Stay With Me" is the only Dunlap/Suthers penned standout track on the album (they write and produce three songs on Fragile lp for some smooth "LA flavor"). Its very smooth and it shows that Cherrelle can calm her sassiness down without sounding at all very sappy. I found nothing against "I Will Wait For You," and "Need You Now" but when you place those softer songs up against Jam and Lewis' own work, there is just no competition. This 28 year old has all the songs on this cd and I urge all fans of Cherrelle and 80s pop/R&B music to get Fragile and also stop by to pick up her amazing sophmore effort, High Priority.

When I first heard "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" on the radio, I nearly fell out of my seat. It's got that similar sound to Prince's "1999," but with a more sensible lyric in place courtesy of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. I also remember that when the single first presented, it was as an instrumental (on wax.) I bought it expecting the whole song and all I got was the music instead! I was never quite sure if that was an oversight by the record company back then in the summer of 1984 or not. Needless to say, the album FINALLY came out after a LONG wait and I got to have the full version of it(which peaked at #8 R&B) and could EASILY have been a #1 record. Then came the title cut with classic breaking glass up top and an awesome sax accompaniment along side my girl as she infused so much spunk and flava into it. "Like I Will," the album's 3rd single, was a typical hot mess, Flyte-Tyme style with all kinds of animal noises and partyin' goin' on in the background, but for ME, the last five songs are where the magic really happens as Cherrelle undertakes some beautifully crafted ballads and beat ballads; my favorites being "Stay with Me," "Who's It Gonna Be" and "I Need You Now." As expected, this would be her first Gold record and would precede what greatness (although in a surprisingly short career) would come along in the form of two more Gold records and two gorgeous and memorable hit duets with labelmate, Alexander O'Neal. Cherrelle, NOT Janet Jackson, was the ORIGINAL Princess of Flyte Tyme. Jackson just crossed over and sold more records.

Cherrelle is one of my favorite artists and her debut album is amazing. Here are my favorite songs from the album:

1.) Fragile....Handle With Care: It's a cool, upbeat dance song that's great to listen to. I like the part at the end where the glass breaks.
2.) I Didn't Mean To Turn You On: One of my favorite Cherrelle songs that I love to listen to.
3.) When You Look Into My Eyes: A cool uptempo ballad with a good melody that's nice to listen to.
4.) Who's It Gonna Be: Nice, soulful ballad that's relaxing to listen to.
5.) Stay With Me: Another one of my favorite Cherrelle songs that's nice and soothing to listen to.
6.) I Will Wait For You: Another soothing, nice ballad that's good to listen to.

If you're a fan of Cherrelle, you'll love this album.

When I saw Tabu had reissued Cherrelle's debut album I hurried up and snatched her cause I knew those reissues wouldn't be around for long. I was only 6 years old when this album came out but I can still remember hearing I Didn't Mean To Turn You On. My Mother had the cassette tape (remember those in the 80's). She let me listen to it and I would play it in my boombox at night. For some reason I enjoy this album better at night. This whole album was excellent. Cherrelle (Cheryl Norton) should have gone mainstream. She had exceptional vocal ability and she had star quality. If you can find this album or Affair buy them. My top 4 tracks:
1. Fragile - love the horns on this one
2. I Will Wait For You - this song has a beautiful dreamy quality to it.
3. Who's It Gonna Be - Hot
4. When You Look In My Eyes - slamming beat

A classic and a very good one.
For those who love Jam & Lewis productions