The guitar songs are excellent on Technique; the dance songs are a major recovery after the perfidious trilogy* of "Subculture", "Shellshock", and "State of the Nation" (which were already buffered, thank heavens, with BLT, True Faith, and TBTHOG, but more was still needed in my retrospective estimation). I actually heard the first 30 seconds of "Leaving On A Jet Plane" last night, but the kid at work playing it quickly switched to some rap on his iPod so as not to offend his homies who had come into the store. "Run" definitely resembles the track, but you could say the same of the Velvet Underground resembling girl group and doo-wop songs in some instances. It's a shame Denver was so uptight about the track-you'd think sharing credit was enough, but denying production of the single, when he'd be making more money? Kind of self-denying and righteous all at once.
Anyway, back to Technique briefly. I deliberately put off getting this album because I heard "it was the big dance album", and I wasn't a big fan of "Fine Time" or "Round & Round" when I first watched the videos. But when I finally picked up Technique last May or June, I fell in love instantly. That had never happened with a NO album before (although I had a pretty intense affinity for Brotherhood for the first two months I had owned it). I love all the tracks, and have very few qualms with anything on the record. Two masterpieces: Closer and Technique.
*This is a really hyperbolic statement.