Sooner or Later

Album Review

Dice Records, a small Dayton, OH-based indie that focused on Hi-NRG and dance-pop in the '80s, was big on covers. Among those covers was Greg Stone doing the Trammps' "That's Where the Happy People," Holly Oas singing Ruby & the Romantics' "Our Day Will Come," and Leah Landis performing "Boys," which was a hit for the Beatles and the Shirelles in the early '60s. Gratefully, Dice knew better than to try to provide carbon copies of the original versions, and its covers were generally interesting. Released in 1987, Ernest Kohl's remake of the Grass Roots' "Sooner or Later" is no exception. Kohl doesn't try to emulate the Grass Roots on this 12" single — he obviously knows better. Instead, Kohl successfully gives "Sooner or Later" an exuberant Hi-NRG/Euro-dance makeover. The singer demonstrates that "Sooner or Later" doesn't have to be pop/rock to work — in fact, Kohl demonstrates that it can work nicely with a high-tech Euro-dance beat. Those who had never heard the Grass Roots' original version would swear up and down that "Sooner or Later" started out as a Hi-NRG tune. But "Sooner or Later" did start out as pop/rock, and Kohl's ability to put a totally different spin on the song speaks well of him.