Ballads - Deluxe Edition (1962)

"Throughout Coltrane's discography there are a handful of albums that split his listening camp into factions. Generally, these occur in his extreme later-period works. As a contrast, "Ballads" is often criticized as too easy, and as too much of a compromise between Coltrane and Impulse!. But it's a perfectly fine album of Coltrane doing what he always did -- explore new avenues and modes in an inexhaustible search for personal and artistic enlightenment. Here, he looks into the warmer side of things, a path he would take with both Johnny Hartman and Duke Ellington. Here he lays out for Tyner mostly, and the results positively shimmer at times. He's not aggressive - instead, he's introspective and at times even predictable, but that is precisely the album's draw. The bonus disc contains no less than five versions of "Greensleeves" and seven versions of "It's Easy to Remember" - often slightly more aggressive and exploratory than the album version - plus two other alternate versions." (Sam Samuelson, Allmusic)