** Various artists, “Songs From ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ ” Columbia.

The teen soap opera has become such a hit that its production company has decided to exploit its cross-promotional muscle. Hence, this soundtrack album, which features songs from Columbia artists that will be included in upcoming episodes of the show. Predictably, the album sounds like the byproduct of a carefully calibrated marketing plan: There are wimpy weepers from Sophie B. Hawkins and Jessica Simpson, peppy pop from Shooter and Heather Nova, and tortured poetics from Adam Cohen. It’s all pleasant enough, but hardly the stuff from which teen dreams are made.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor); two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.