Precious is the debut English-language album by Cubic U released in Japan on January 28, 1998 by Toshiba EMI.

It was recorded at Sony Music Studios in New York City in 1996.

The album was never released commercially in the United States, due to internal problems with the label EMI, and was only available to music industry insiders.

Although it failed to chart on the Oricon charts at the time of its release, the album was re-released on March 31, 1999 after the huge success of Utada's First Love, reaching number two with 702,060 copies sold.

"Close to You" is a cover version of the Burt Bacharach–Hal David composition "(They Long to Be) Close to You" made famous by the Carpenters.Note: Several promo copies of the album have the track "Here and There and Back Again" as track 5.