“Baby’s Got a New Baby”
S-K-O
Written by J. Fred Knobloch and Dan Tyler
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
February 13, 1987
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
March 14, 1987
Another casualty of MTM Records was S-K-O/S-K-B.
Three years before the label folded in 1989, the supergroup of Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch, and Paul Overstreet formed as Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet, later shortened to S-K-O. The original lineup released one album together, and it featured three top twenty hits, including their only No. 1 single, “Baby’s Got a New Baby.”
Real talk? Paul Overstreet made the right call by leaving and pursuing a solo career. There’s nothing memorable about this record or this group’s harmonies, and the melody never quite gets off of the ground. It’s all too low energy and indifferent to have any real emotional stakes.
The band replaced Overstreet with songwriter Craig Bickhardt, and released an album and several singles as S-K-B. Once MTM folded in 1989, Schuyler and Bickhardt continued their successful songwriting careers, and Knobloch was a VP for RCA Records until he retired in 1984.
As is the case with much of the MTM catalog, you’ll have to settle for YouTube rips to hear this record.
“Baby’s Got a New Baby” gets a C.
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We’re far apart on this one. I remember getting the feels listening to this one on my babysitter’s radio before school in the morning back in 1987, enchanted by the smooth melody and harmonies that enhanced the lyric which even as a young boy I felt in my bones. Even if it’s a little dated today, I still think it holds up wonderfully. S-K-O’s debut top-10 “You Can’t Stop Love” hit me even harder then and now. I will say that their follow-up output didn’t a lot for me (as either S-K-O or S-K-B), but at least for the first two singles, I thought the harmonies of Schuyler and Knoblach complemented Overstreet’s delivery above and beyond anything Overstreet did as a solo artist. Love, love, love this one.
Grade: A
So what you’re saying is they put about as much energy into this record as the song’s main character put into his relationship?