>but i'd
>probably pay more attention these days if he took half the
>energy he spends on doing those dumb facial contortions when
>he's playing the guitar, and invested that energy in - um,
>writing better music.

he seems to be wanting to do a fun thing with some energy. I didn't see him acting sincere or anything like that. He seemed to do the sincere thing with the song and video "Dolphin" from way back - I wasn't too into the serious vibe on that.

He's throwing some stuff out there in a style he's highly capable of rocking. Focusing on making unique individual stand-alone songs would slow down the fun and energy. Ripping through some caricaturish energized funk rock (hopefully wah-wahed all the way out) obviously can get him and the audience going - with less "...eh" factor of one vastly different song after the other.

He needs to be sustaining a mood and that seems like what Prince has finally realized.