Album Reviews : VARIOUS ARTISTS, ** 1/2 “Tales From the Hood”, <i> MCA</i>

This uneven soundtrack was created for a movie that’s a series of macabre tales dealing with street life meeting the afterlife.

It starts off with a boom-box bang--with Wu-Tang Clan pummeling your ears on the searing “Let Me at Them.” Face Mob and Scarface continue the tension with their brooding, death-knell offering, as do teen rappers Havoc & Prodeje on the gut-wrenching “Hood Got Me Feelin’ the Pain.”

But then the soundtrack loses steam with MC Eiht’s surprisingly lackluster performance and Domino’s limp title track, which proves a slow, simple groove is no longer a recipe for success.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).