Disco de Cherrelle: “Best of Cherrelle”

This CD, which is very hard to find, but worth every penny, comes from her 3 releases ("Fragile", "High Priority" and "Affair") on Taboo Records. For those want want even more Cherrelle will be happy to know that "High Priority" has been reissued and remastered. Unfortunately, Cherrelle's "Best Of" has simply disappeared from almost every CD retailer, BUT you can still find it at a reasonable price in some places. If you need guidance, just ask me.

Back to this release, which more than does the job. As some others have mentioned, Cherrelle never reached the stardom of some her 80's contemporaries. This is too bad as she has great pipes for both ballads and the hard stuff and made some great music with the great Jimmy Jam and Tery Lewis. My guess is that she was not backed by a big company and that she was not as "media ready" as Janet Jackson, Jody Watley, or even lesser talents like Paula Abdul. This is not a dig at Paula as I enjoyed her musical "styling" and enjoyed many of her songs.

She and label mate, Alexander O'Neal (who did break through for a massive seller with his masterful "Hearsay" release) made some great music as exemplified by "Saturday Love". But here you can also find the classic "Affair" (which is also blessed with Alexander O'Neal) the greatest rendition of "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On", and the soulful "Everything I Miss At Home".

If you are not familiar with Cherrelle, you should give her a shot. Most of the musical arragements/production proudly show its 1980's Minneapolis roots, but it is not a deterrent for me as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis brought their distinctive touch to Cherrelle, and if you hear this release carefully you can see that Janet's "Control" release was their next progression with this sound.

I give this release 4 stars because it includes a handful of are true classics that are a MUST for any r & b fan. The CD's last three songs are nothing out of this world, so I won't give it a 5, but it is still more enjoyable than other 5 star releases that I have as the good songs are better than chocolate. Enjoy.

I agree whole-heartedly with the one person that says she has an excpetional voice. I remember being a tiny little thing and hearing Saturday Love on the radio. Being young, not a lot of songs appeal to you. However, this song actually took me to another place in my mind and I enjoyed it. I just can't explain how much I enjoy all of her and Alexander Oneal's stuff. They each have it going on, and when the 2 come 2gether, WOW!!!