Label: Mercury / UME
Reissued 2018, Originally released 1997
The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 is the first greatest hits compilation album by singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, released by Mercury Records in 1997. It compiles Mellencamp's most popular material recorded during his first decade with Riva and Mercury Records, beginning with 1978's A Biography, up through 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee, with a new recording of Terry Reid's "Without Expression". Mellencamp picked the songs for the album and also came up with the title for the album. The album reached #33 on the Billboard 200. This album and Rough Harvest came about because, after leaving Mercury Records for Columbia Records, Mellencamp still owed the label two more albums.
Track listing:
- I Need a Lover
- Ain't Even Done with the Night
- Hurts So Good
- Jack & Diane
- Crumblin' Down
- Pink Houses
- Authority Song
- Lonely Ol' Night
- Small Town
- R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60's Rock)
- Paper in Fire
- Cherry Bomb
- Check It Out
- Without Expression