After recording Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the London Abbey Road Studios in 1967 – The Beatles left behind a Mellotron. Based on a 1946 invention by American inventor Henry Chamberlain, this organ-like instrument was designed to recreate sounds of single notes played by orchestral instruments by triggering recordings on tape loops.

Convoluted? Absolutely. But there was a certain kind of magic that came from the Mellotron. Unlike conventional synthesisers and digital samplers that came after it, this early electronic keyboard device created sounds that were almost unearthly. During a time when spacing out to prog rock was a much-loved pass-time, the natural wobble and flutter of the tapes had its own allure.

So, what happened to The Beatles’ Mellotron? Well, British rock band, The Zombies found it and used it to record their album Odessey and Oracle.