History Music / Technique

''Technique'' is the fifth studio album by English AlternativeDance group Music/NewOrder, released in 1989. The album is an even more radical departure from New Order's signature sound compared to ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'', incorporating heavy use of Balearic beat and acid house influences (inspired by the band's experiences during initial recording sessions in Ibiza) and overall bringing New Order into the Madchester dance scene full-force. Consequently, it also cemented New Order's image as an electronic band, following ''Brotherhood''[='s=] conceptual war between the guitar and synthesizer sides of their music. Despite this, a number of guitar-driven tracks still feature on ''Technique'', with songs like "All the Way", "Love Less", and "Run" showing that the band hadn't completely abandoned their rock roots.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: A color-inverted photograph of a cherub statue against a pink and purple gradient background; the inner LP sleeve and CD insert feature [[PaletteSwap palette swaps]] of the photograph.

* AlternateAlbumCover: The cassette version has another of the {{Palette Swapp}}ed image of the statue on the front cover, side-by-side with the standard version.

Three singles were released off of ''Technique'': "Fine Time", "Round & Round", and "Run 2". The 12" release of "Round & Round" is an extended remix of the song, while "Run 2" is a rearranged version of the album track "Run" featuring sparser production and an altered guitar part. The latter received a music video directed by photographer Robert Frank. Notably, New Order ended up in a bit of legal hot water over "Run" and "Run 2"; the publishing company of Music/JohnDenver filed a lawsuit in 1991 arguing that the guitar part in the tracks were plagiarized from the Denver-penned song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Factory [[ScrewedByTheLawyers promptly deleted the single after charges were filed]], New Order ended up settling out of court, and later reissues of ''Technique'' and other compilations containing "Run" and/or "Run 2" consequently add in a writing credit for Denver. On a more trivial note, this album was the first of New Order's to make use of the increasingly popular CD single format during promotion; while the band had previously made use of the format for "Touched by the Hand of God" and a US promotional release of [[Music/SubstanceNewOrderAlbum "True Faith"]] in 1987, this marked the first time they did so to promote a proper studio album, and marked the point where they fully embraced the CD single, using it for both "Fine Time" and "Round & Round" ("Run 2" was deleted before Factory could even think about giving it a release on the format, relegating it to just the initial batch of 7" and 12" copies). That said, they still made considerable use of the 7" and 12" formats while promoting ''Technique'', and would continue to do so in conjunction with CD single releases up to the promotional campaign for their most recent album, 2015's ''Music Complete'' (with their use of 12" singles extending even further via 2020's "Be a Rebel").

Three singles were released off of ''Technique'': "Fine Time", "Round & Round", and "Run 2". The 12" release of "Round & Round" is an extended remix of the song, while "Run 2" is a rearranged version of the album track "Run" featuring sparser production and an altered guitar part. The latter received a music video directed by photographer Robert Frank. Notably, New Order ended up in a bit of legal hot water over "Run" and "Run 2"; the publishing company of Music/JohnDenver filed a lawsuit in 1991 arguing that the guitar part in the tracks were plagiarized from the Denver-penned song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Factory [[ScrewedByTheLawyers promptly deleted the single after charges were filed]], New Order ended up settling out of court, and later reissues of ''Technique'' and other releases containing "Run" and/or "Run 2" consequently add in a writing credit for Denver. On a more trivial note, this album was the first of New Order's to make use of the increasingly popular CD single format during promotion; while the band had previously made use of the format for "Touched by the Hand of God" and a US promotional release of [[Music/SubstanceNewOrderAlbum "True Faith"]] in 1987, this marked the first time they did so to promote a proper studio album, and marked the point where they fully embraced the CD single, using it for both "Fine Time" and "Round & Round" ("Run 2" was deleted before Factory could even think about giving it a release on the format, relegating it to just the initial batch of 7" and 12" copies). That said, they still made considerable use of the 7" and 12" formats while promoting ''Technique'', and would continue to do so in conjunction with CD single releases up to the promotional campaign for their most recent album, 2015's ''Music Complete'' (with their use of 12" singles extending even further via 2020's "Be a Rebel").