Joe Cheng has much room for improvement in the singing department, but he's got everything else down pat for the fans. The Taiwan TV idol's debut EP comes in two editions bundled with great preorder gifts that should make any fan happy. Version A comes with a cute photo album that a colleague of mine dubbed the "evil book of evilness" when I showed it to her to justify my purchase. This isn't one of those typical photo booklets that come with CDs, but an actual A5-sized hardcover photo album filled with adorkable pictures of Joe in Ishikawa, Japan. (There are a few fan-service pool photos in there.) Were the book a bit bigger, it could be sold separately. I've also just retired my Won Bin mousepad for the greenish holographic Joe mousepad that comes with Preorder Version A.

Version B comes with a music travelogue DVD containing video of Joe's Japan trip backdropped by his songs and some fabulously cheesy narration. The A4-sized 2010 hanging photo calendar is quite nice, printed on good paper with bright and cheery Joe photos (two months per page); the postcards and stickers are also photos from the Japan trip. You can collect the whole set of Joe in Japan goodies if you get both versions of the EP. Frankly, I'm not all that interested in hearing Joe sing either, but if you're already a fan the album is worth it for the extras.

As for the music itself, Joe's EP is actually better than I expected. The thought of Joe singing (and dancing?!) really doesn't inspire confidence, and he should most definitely never quit his day job. But as an indulgent release for himself and his fans, the album pretty much has its heart in the right place with a safe selection of pop songs that aim to work around Joe's vocal weaknesses.

Of the album's five tracks, "Unwilling to Give Up" (Track 1), a prototype emotional ballad about unrequited love, and cutesy uptempo number "Prince's Revenge Saga" (Track 2) are palatable, while ditzy auto-tune confection "Colorful Party" (Track 4) and should-be-auto-tuned ballad "The Taste of Bread" are less so. The best offering is the title single "Chang a Song" (Track 3) - Joe's Chinese name "Chang" sounds the same as the Chinese character for sing - which is fun, fast, catchy, and auto-tuned enough to turn into a guilty pleasure favorite.

Joe's debut EP is pretty much comparable to the first albums of many other TV idols whose acting abilities, onscreen popularity, and/or photogenic appeal exceed their singing talents, like Vic Chou, Jerry Yan, Dylan Kuo, Roy Chiu, Lee Wei, and Lin Yo Wei. In comparison to say Vic, Jerry, and Roy though, I do suspect Joe has less upside potential to grow into the role of a singer, but we won't know until the second album - which will hopefully also come with lots of fan goodies.