Bob Dylan – Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) (Mark Ronson Remix) Review

What was in the waters of the mid-2000s? What nutjob called up Mark Ronson and asked him to remix a Bob Dylan tune? It did not work for The Ting Tings with their confused nightmare of electronic misery with a disastrous Subterranean Homesick Blues rendition, nor for Avener when they took on Masters of War. Why then would the rest of the Dylan discography fare any better in the hands of pop creatives? They do not. Ronson embarrasses himself as he tears through Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) with all the charm expected of the man behind Uptown Funk. It is for the sake of a Colombia anniversary, so of course the big names will flock to it for a shot at the bigger name.  

In turn, there is now a version of Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) which marks a complete detraction of the joy found in the original. At least little shots of tribute are made to the oft-forgotten collaboration which saw Dylan dip his toes into an ill-fated hip-hop work with Kurtis Blow. At least it is the vocal work of Dylan featured throughout an unnecessary and overworked collection of blues and jazz-like exploitations. It makes sense. Ronson had worked hard on this craft with Amy Winehouse on Back to Black and it sounds like leftover works are added to the fabric of this piece. Dylan warns time will tell of those successors as the punchy brass kicks in. It would be a neat experience if it were not already established. The only thing worse than a re-vision, as Ronson so boldly calls this one, is a blues cover of a track where the tempo matters most of all.  

Instead of having the vocal work from Dylan match the tone of the music, it is the instrumental sections which must both carve out a new route through the track but also linger in a field of familiarity. A harsh meeting of the minds and unfairness on the musicians asked to adapt this classic work to a place of soul. Indifferent at best and catchy from time to time. Slap the original on as the other side of what would be a digital file and throw in a live recording of Down Along the Cove… for whatever reason. Anyway, there it is and a decent recording rounds out the Ronson package. Listen in to the warm guitar fixing on this recording – what a treat it makes for.  

It almost makes up for a stagnant and very shaky Ronson contribution. Almost. Harmless to some degree but at the same time such a waste of your ears. There was no harm with the original and now, more than ever, is a period of culture where the efforts of adaptation and reminding people of a great project with a mediocre one are in full swing. We see it with Hollywood movies, with artists reworking and re-releasing their own words and work. Dylan is no stranger to it but to have someone disconnected from him tackle his work feels like a faint slap to the face of those listening in. Had it been Ronnie Wood, who conducted the interviews with Ronson at the time of this release, perhaps it would have been different. Contemporary ears can offer little to already established tracks when it comes to reworking them in the recording studio, and disheartened fans are left to pick up the shoddy pieces of anniversary after anniversary.