The Best of Mose Allison

The Best of Mose Allison is a compilation album by Mose Allison. It includes some of the jazz pianist and singer's best-known recordings for Atlantic Records. The album was originally released in 1970 as an LP record with 12 songs. The album was re-issued on a CD in 1988 with an additional eight songs and new sequencing.

Critical reception
An AllMusic reviewer gave it four and a half out of five stars and called it "a pretty good capsule introduction to one of American music's most idiosyncratic individualists". However, he noted "For a more comprehensive – and well-packaged – overview of most of his career, turn to the double-CD box Allison Wonderland on Rhino/Atlantic."

Track listing
All songs Written by Mose Allison except as noted. Original LP
 * Side one
 * 1) "Your Mind Is on Vacation" – 2:35
 * 2) "Swingin' Machine" – 2:31
 * 3) "Stop This World" – 3:24
 * 4) "Seventh Son" (Willie Dixon) – 3:36
 * 5) "New Parchman" – 3:04
 * 6) "Rollin' Stone" (McKinley Morganfield) – 2:58
 * Side two
 * 1) "I'm the Wild Man" (Stanley Willis, Don Barksdale) – 1:58
 * 2) "If You're Goin' to the City" – 3:49
 * 3) "I Don't Worry About a Thing" – 2:17
 * 4) "Your Molecular Structure" – 2:05
 * 5) "Everybody Cryin' Mercy" – 2:39
 * 6) "I Love the Life I Live" (Willie Dixon) – 2:26

1988 CD re-issue
 * 1) "I Don't Worry About a Thing" – 2:41
 * 2) "Your Mind Is on Vacation" – 2:35
 * 3) "It Didn't Turn Out That Way" – 2:41 (bonus track)
 * 4) "If You're Goin' to the City" – 3:49
 * 5) "Swingin' Machine" – 2:31
 * 6) "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" (Duke Ellington, Don George) – 3:56 (bonus track)
 * 7) "Stop This World" – 3:24
 * 8) "I'm the Wild Man" (Stanley Willis, Don Barksdale) – 1:58
 * 9) "New Parchman" – 3:04
 * 10) "Rollin' Stone" (McKinley Morganfield) – 2:58
 * 11) "Don't Forget to Smile" – 2:48 (bonus track)
 * 12) "Seventh Son" (Willie Dixon) – 2:26
 * 13) "I Love the Life I Live" (Willie Dixon) – 2:21
 * 14) "What's With You" – 2:55 (bonus track)
 * 15) "That's the Stuff You Gotta Watch" (Buddy Johnson) – 2:10 (bonus track)
 * 16) "Your Molecular Structure" – 2:05
 * 17) "Just Like Livin'" – 1:44 (bonus track)
 * 18) "Everybody Cryin' Mercy" – 2:39
 * 19) "Night Club" – 2:36 (bonus track)
 * 20) "One of These Days" – 4:29 (bonus track)

Personnel

 * Mose Allison – piano, vocals, producer (tracks 16–18)
 * Addison Farmer – double bass (1–7)
 * Osie Johnson – drums (1–3)
 * Jimmy Knepper – trombone (4–7)
 * Jimmy Reider – tenor sax (4–7)
 * Frankie Dunlop – drums (4–7)
 * Ben Tucker – bass (8–11)
 * Ron Lundberg – drums (8–11)
 * Stan Gilbert – bass (12–13)
 * Mel Lee – drums (12–13)
 * Earl May – bass (14–15)
 * Paul Motian – drums (14–15)
 * Red Mitchell – bass (16–18)
 * Bill Goodwin – drums (16–18)
 * Chuck Rainey – bass guitar (19)
 * Billy Cobham – drums (19)
 * Al Porcino – trumpet (20)
 * David Sanborn – alto sax (20)
 * Joe Farrell – tenor sax (20)
 * Jack Hannah – bass (20)
 * Jerry Granelli – drums (20)
 * Nesuhi Ertegün – producer (1–15)
 * Arif Mardin – producer (14–15)
 * Joel Dorn – producer (19)
 * Ilhan Mimaroglu – producer (20)
 * Tom Dowd – engineer (1–7)
 * Phil Iehle – engineer (1–3, 8–11, 14–15)
 * Joe Atkinson – engineer (4–7)
 * Wally Heider – engineer (12–13)
 * Dave Weichman – engineer (16–18)
 * Lewis Hahn – engineer (19)
 * Carmen Rubino – engineer (20)