5/5 This should be compulsory listening
  by Siddhartha Guatama (Nirvana)
These days John Coltrane is followed with an almost religious fervour, which is appropriate for someone who made quite possibly the greatest devotional music since the days of JS Bach. The secret of this is that the music never preaches at you but simply has Coltrane trying to musically describe his love for the almighty.

The highlight of this album is obviously Coltranes ultra-expressive tenor sax playing which was once famously described as "sheets of sound" but the playing of the rest of the quartet is also exquisite, especially Elvin Jones' incredible drumming. At a time when most music seems to be about bling and ho's here is music that is both virtuosic and speaks to its listeners personally. If you have any interest in jazz or want to listen to truly brilliant music you have to have this.

3/5 Liked it, neither loved nor hated it
  by Karl R. Herman (Central PA USA)
After reading about this in the context of Coltrane's autobiography, I thought I would either hate or love this. When I listened I was surprised to find that I just liked it. It's a good example of avant-garde jazz that sounds good, that's not so far out that it's hard to listen to. Influences from earlier types of jazz are combined with a classical sensibility. A spiritual feeling is there for those who can sense it.

4/5 Important, but not a Masterpiece in my Opinion
  by Roger Berlind (NY, USA)
A Love Supreme is generally viewed as John Coltrane's masterpiece. That clearly seems to be the view of most reviewers here on Amazon. As I write this review, the album has received 118 5-star reviews out of 131 (just counting reviews associated with editions linked by Amazon to this one). So, 90% of reviewers give it 5 stars. But more than that, the titles of the reviews reflect extreme passion and devotion: "The best album ever", "A Jazz Masterpiece by the 'Trane", "Immense and Beyond Category", "A true religious experience", "One of History's Masterpieces", "One of the Greatest Albums Ever Made!", etc. Some reviewers even claim that this album is "proof that God exists".

However, I find myself compelled to disagree with the majority view. While I think the album is a very good album that is daring, passionate, and musically inventive, I feel that Coltrane fell short of acomplishing his stated goals of making a humble offering to God and inspiring his listeners to share his faith. In particular, I feel that his playing in the first and third movements is self-indulgent, chaotic, and (at times) both ugly and out of control. While I do not doubt Coltrane's sincerity, his playing does not make me appreciate God's love, mercy, or grace (except in the softer, hymn-like 4th movement). While I listen to lots of jazz and rock music, I also like classical music including symphonies, opera, and even religious works (masses, cantatas) by composers like Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart, and Bach. There are many beautiful works by these composers that convey great sadness, peace, love, and faith in God and stir my emotions much more than A Love Supreme does.

That's not to say that I doubt the sincerity of other reviewers who have indicated that the album does stir these emotions or religious feelings in them. But the album doesn't really touch me on an emotional level in the ways that Coltrane intended; at most, the frenetic playing of Coltrane and his talented bandmates inspires feelings of excitement and irritation in me. My first impression on hearing this album was hat Coltrane was full of anger, not love. Perhaps,being an atheist, I'm just not receptive to his message. However, I do feel moved by classical music inspired by God despite my lack of faith. So, I ultimately feel that Coltrane hasn't really communicated (to me) the feelings he seemed to be aiming for, with the exception of the 4th movement.

Ironically, I feel Coltrane did communicate peace, love, and beauty much more effectively in his Crescent album from the same year. I consider that album better than this one.

One possibility here is that Coltrane meant to depict his struggle to find and stick with God and that the first few movements are supposed to express that struggle and are therefore not intended to convey the feelings of love and peace that I expected. But the titles of the movements and the liner notes do not indicate this. If that was his intention, then I might listen to the album in a different way and come to a different conclusion.

5/5 This could be it...
  by finulanu (Here, there, and everywhere)
I know that everyone has, at one point or another, opened a review with the words "arguably the greatest album ever" or "It changed my life" or something similar. I will be no different. This is certainly the best John Coltrane album, though there are plenty of competitors, and it might be the best jazz album ever. I'll stop short of "best album", because it would be impossible for me to go that far. In a way, it also changed my life, or at least the way I thought about music. Before I bought it, my musical tastes were mostly confined to classic rock. After I bought it, and the only reason I did was because I enjoyed the Greatest Hits album of his I owned (which at the time was one of my four or five jazz albums), it opened my mind to all kinds of music. Soon not just jazz but funk, R&B, blues alternative rock, and some reggae caught my attention, and began to assimilate themselves into my daily listening diet, so to speak. It is more or less solely responsible for making me realize just how much there is to music. More than the DJ's at your local classic rock station want you to believe, that's for sure.
So, how about the music? That's a good question. Like most of Trane's other dates recorded after he signed with Atlantic and began to make some of the best music known to mankind, the band is a quartet, this time consisting of Trane on tenor and soprano saxes plus McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums, a group better known as the "classic quartet". A little note on Tyner: he's a brilliant pianist, at least as good as Trane's previous cohort Tommy Flanagan, and maybe even better. It's a four-part suite devoted to God, and it's a gripping, emotional work of art.
The album grips you right from the first part, subtitled "Acknowledgment", where Trane unleashes a cascading sax solo. When this ends, Garrison states the brilliantly simple theme, and Trane forgets all about convention and swoops right in on a solo. It's not just sheets of sound, it's also sheets of rising and falling emotion, tension being built up and released over the course of my favorite eight minutes in John Coltrane's entire career. The title is also chanted almost religiously near the end. This blends seamlessly into "Resolution", which is brilliant as well. Trane's interest in Indian culture and religion is made rather obvious by the piece's melody, and McCoy Tyner's piano solo is even more impressive than Trane's, which is really saying something quite impressive. The captivating third part bookends intense soloing with a rhythm section double-feature, and then it's onto the sweeping fourth movement, where Coltrane "reads" a poem he wrote with his saxophone. That is, he ignores all conventions of melody, and just plays the meter of the poem, offering a preview of where his music was about to go. You see, this marked the end of Coltrane's period as a universally respected musician. Soon it was free jazz time, and we all know what that means. Controversy. I like the free jazz a lot, though.
Even if you don't think you like jazz, it may change your mind. It's a must-own release!

5/5 masterpiece
  by Shawn K. Smith (Indianapolis, IN United States)
For those that get this album it is nothing short of a masterpiece. For those that don't it is anything but a masterpiece. Before judging this album one way or the other I recommend multiple listenings over a fairly extended period of time. Try listening to it 8 or 9 times over the period of a couple of weeks. I've actually known people who at first thought this album was awful, but after a while their ears opened up to it and they absolutley loved it.