Remember, it cannot get much worse than the Masters of War offering Bob Dylan presented on Real Live. The striking protest song sinks to a new low on this remix. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan track piqued the interest of French DJ The Avener. What a DJ is meant to do with the folksy charms of Dylan is unexplainable. It kind of works, in the same way, gaffer tape will close a hole in an aeroplane window. Flying it is a risky move and unfortunately for The Avener, their additions to this Dylan classic stand no chance. Not just because improving on the classic track is borderline impossible but because the form used and the rework marked upon here is completely lifeless. It does not sound all too different to everyday filler DJ sets.
Incredibly humorous it may be to hear Dylan backed by a board of sounds Fred Again would turn his nose up at, Masters of War (The Avener Rework) has little going for it. There is no sense of immediacy or impact. Stripped away are the cries against warfare and the call to protest. In its place is a liquified drivel ready to be piped into headphones around the globe. Listen in close to these stale sounds. All this becomes is an addition of typical club tunes usually heard on the back end of YouTube outros. What a grim undertaking it becomes, an unfashionable and clunky addition of whirring electronics which feel so out of place given the context of the song. Dylan has a voice which can be adapted to this state of anthemic proportions but The Avener misses the point entirely.
Beyond pointless yet still lacking something at its core. There is no life to the empty flourishes Avener attempts to make. Nothing lazy about it, just a horrible fit is all. Masters of War does not need to be dragged up and buried in quick succession. Ill-fitting moments are no surprise but this rally against the Cold War loses its tender core and infinitely important message. Now more than ever is the time to get behind a Dylan song with this as its charging desire – not this edition, though. Avener’s Rework finds everything Dylan does not need and adds it in. This is the result. Nobody should fear the hopeful ideas of change – an electrified Dylan surprised those in the mid-1960s, and hearing these pieces dubbed and mixed with new intent should be welcomed.
But to hear it torn through like this is a painful experience. There is no uniqueness to this. Just a constant and interrupting beat with an electronic ripple over lyrics which describe the fear of fending off the atomic bomb. Inappropriate of course, but that thought does not even filter in when listening to this. Taking the Cold War and adding some weak, whirring electronics to it is about as shoddy as it gets but for Avener Rework it feels cheap and lazy. Consider the weight of the original. Now add a drum machine and some lazy acoustics to the powerful words Dylan delivered all those years ago. About as tone-deaf as a mixing has been since the Diabolix remix of Sweet Caroline.
