Rarities #40: Panic! At The Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out Box Set (2006)

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out is Panic! At The Disco's 2005 debut album. You might remember that they dropped the "!" for their second album Pretty.Odd, but recently, with the departure of two of the members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, the band (with the two surviving members) reinstated the "!" back into their name.

You might also remember P!ATD as the band with a penchant for long song titles, just like fellow American pop/rock band Fall Out Boy. It is no coincidence as P!ATD were the first band to be signed on to Decaydance, the record label founded by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy.

This collector's edition of A Fever That You Can't Sweat Out is a real treat, one of the few box sets that shows much care has gone into its creation. The outer box has an intentional weathered look, and the inside is lined with faux red velvet, with gold hotstamping and the message "Beware of imitations".

There's a ton of goodies inside the box, including a poster, a masquerade mask, a phenakistoscope, 12 picture cards (one for each song on the album), a mini tour programme, 4 black and white pictures of the band, a blank diary, a fake newspaper and a certificate of authenticity.

FYI, a phenakistoscope is an animation device with a spinning disc attached vertically on a handle. When you spin the disc and look through the moving slits at the disc's reflection in a mirror, you will see a rapid succession of images with the appearance of a motion picture. In this case, of a lady dancing.

Of course, there's also the CD album, but not only that, there's an additional DVD not available elsewhere, containing live performances, a documentary and interviews.

Only 25,000 sets were produced worldwide, and the certificate comes with a unique serial number. Definitely one for keeps!