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 Metallica, “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, Part 1,” Elektra Video. The first part of this nearly four-hour rockumentary might be better coined “More Than You Ever Wanted, Needed or Cared to Know About Making a Record.” Both exhaustive and exhausting, this 96-minute in-studio look at the making of the multi-platinum “Metallica” album is for fans only.

* * 1/2 Metallica, “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, Part 2,” Elektra Video. Any band knows the peril of becoming Spinal Tap, and in Part 2 of these chronicles, one of the highlights is the backstage banter between that not-so-fictional band and Metallica. Bonuses in this less self-conscious touring segment include rehearsal footage from the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, fan feedback and clips from Metallica’s visit to Russia.