Source: Four Corners EP VHS LPCM

John Archer is a legend. If you are here tracking down our Vault Rare Track of the Week, the chances are we are not telling you anything you did not already know about the Hunters’ bass player at this point.

This is where the Sony PCM-501ES appear. Of course, the Sony PCM-501ES, I hear you say.

Sony PCM 501ES

The Sony PCM 501ES was one of the first consumer digital recording devices, released in the infancy of digital back in 1984. It plugged into a VHS or Betamax player, where digital data was then recorded on analog video tapes. This machine is so ancient that despite having entirely digital recording, it only has an analog audio output.

Where are we going with this? John had a couple of dozen VHS tapes with digital audio data on them and, amazingly, the original working Sony PCM 501ES. Not only that, but he was enough of a legend to transfer them all to digital and supply them to us here at True Believers. We now have some stunning quality recordings from 1984 forwards to fill the few gaps we had in the massive archives from Rob Miles and Jack Howard.

So now the Australian tour is over, it’s time to be a bit more courageous. Four Corners was a Hunters side project featuring Mark Seymour on vocals and rhythm guitar, Des Hefner on drums, Robert Oertel on bass and Jeremy Smith on lead guitar. Their recorded history comprises of one one three track 12″ EP released back in 1985. We have made attempts at converting this from vinyl previously, but nothing beats the original digital recording found here from John’s collection!