Howard Jones - The Prisoner

What this video is

Released in May 1989, 'The Prisoner' arrived at a pivotal cultural inflection point: British synth-pop, which had dominated global pop charts since 1982, was ceding commercial ground to US hip-hop, house music, and the nascent Madchester indie scene. Howard Jones's fourth album 'Cross That Line' performed poorly in his native UK while retaining a loyal US adult contemporary audience, reflecting the transatlantic…

Why it matters

A capstone example of late-period British synth-pop music video production, 'The Prisoner' demonstrates the genre's mature phase: thematic seriousness, introspective lyricism, and technically ambitious video craft replacing the brighter, more playful aesthetic of early-80s New Wave. Charting at…

The director

Daniel Kleinman (born 23 December 1955) is a British television commercial and music video director. After graduating from Hornsey Art School he directed his first music video in 1983 and went on to pioneer post-production special effects techniques across…