In Brief

* * * Various artists, “Clockers” soundtrack, MCA. The music accompanying Spike Lee films often lingers longer than his on-screen images--recall Public Enemy’s potent “Fight the Power” opener from “Do the Right Thing”? Here the music offers a thoughtful R&B; and rap backdrop with strong efforts by Seal and Marc Dorsey, who creates potent poetry out of substance abuse in “People in Search of a Life.” Equally effective are Des’ree’s “Silent Hero” and Chaka Khan’s “Love Me Still”--both give hope to contemporary R&B; songwriting.

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