I think This Ain't A Love Song is better than Always. I never thought Always was that great and I was surprised that it was such a huge hit.
Does 'These Days' count as a ballad? If so, then that's THE best post Crossroad ballad. TYFLM is an ok standard ballad, not bad but nowhere as good as BJ's previous works. Ditto for AALY. Lie To Me is probably the worst.