Visions Other Than Sugarplums

With two home video packages each from Guns N’ Roses and Metallica and one or two releases that might not be suitable for family viewing, it’s a tough season for a rock ‘n’ roll Santa. The Calendar Video Shopping Guide of releases by some of pop’s biggest names offers some help. The videos, listed alphabetically, are rated on a scale from one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).

* * 1/2 N.W.A., “Efil4zaggin,” Priority. This might wind up in the soft-core porn bins, thanks to the extensive footage of strippers cavorting at the notorious rap group’s private pool parties. But all the sex is tame compared to the violent images--and venomous anti-police tirades--in this hour package made up of concert numbers, video clips, no-holds-barred interviews and cheap shots at ex-member Ice Cube. Occasionally offensive, but it often packs a wallop.

* * * Public Enemy, “The Enemy Strikes. . .Live,” SMV Enterprises. This 80-minute tape combines footage from a show at New York’s Apollo Theatre with video clips, including the controversial “By the Time I Get to Arizona.” The clips sizzle, showing the rappers at their raging best. The concert, though, is a snoozer, deflated by rage that registers as halfhearted.

* * Queensryche, “Building Empires,” EMI Video. Of the 19 clips on this 100-minute tape--essentially a retrospective of the group’s 10-year career--only a handful are inventive or do justice to their often-stirring pop-metal tunes. Rarely do you get a sense of how charismatic lead singer Geoff Tate really is. Nor does the interview footage contribute much that hard-core fans don’t already know.