* 1/2 LENNY KRAVITZ : “Mama Said” : <i> Virgin</i>

One of the songs on Lenny Kravitz’s second album is titled “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over,” but it’s another Yogi Berra pronouncement that seems more apropos: It’s deja vu all over again.

Those who were waiting for the pop upstart to shed the cocoon of his influences and take flight as an inventive pop alchemist will have to wait a little longer. Kravitz cloaks himself even more thickly in Hendrix and Lennon garb than he did last year, crafting a fitfully seductive but numbingly shallow homage to the psychedelic era.

Kravitz’s flower-power proselytizing is derivative of both primary Summer of Love sources and such witty, substantial revivalists as Prince. Instead of touching you with original ideas or genuine emotions, Kravitz’s every move simply triggers a Fillmore flashback: Santana and Curtis Mayfield on the Latin-soul “What Goes Around,” John Lennon on the big ballad “Stand by Your Woman” and the dreamy “Fields of Joy” (add your own Strawberry). When Kravitz finally goes off the Hendrix deep end, self-importance gives way to self-parody--an inevitable outcome when you make music this contrived.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic).