Music Maps

Looking back at my past few posts, I’m a touch worried that I’ve focused on a few too many bloody awful Britpop records, and that’s probably because I have. So it’s time to remedy that with XTC’s 1982 album English Settlement, the sleeve of which is adorned with an image of the Uffington White Horse, a 3000 year old figure that was cut and chalked into the turf on the side of White Horse Hill in Uffington, Oxfordshire.

Whether Uffington White Horse is actually a horse has been cause for regular debate, with locals claiming that the image is that of the dragon that Saint George slew on Dragon Hill beneath the horse.

XTC coming from the nearby town of Swindon probably explains the reasoning for using the image on the sleeve to their filth album, although the same can’t be said for Nirvana who use the image on the back of their In Utero record. Kate Bush is another who’s used the location in pop, fooling around on the top of the hill in the promo video to 1985’s Cloudbusting single:

English Settlement is available for less than a fiver at Amazon, and with the likes of Pitchfork giving it a rare 10.0 rating, it’s worth a gamble even if you’re unfamiliar with the band.

If you want to know more about the White Horse or visit the hill, then the website of the National Trust - who now own and manage the site - can give you more details.