In Brief

* * 1/2 Various artists, “Reality Bites” soundtrack, RCA. Strange how bookending this collection with the Knack’s “My Sharona” and Big Mountain’s reggae remake of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” makes everything in between--including strong selections from Juliana Hatfield, Dinosaur Jr. and even U2 (the elegant “All I Want Is You”)--seem like guilty-pleasure pop fluff. It offers few insights to the movie’s Gen X themes, but it sure beats your average hour of radio programming. New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).