Charles Drain - Dependable 1976 RCA lp OG RARE Groove Sweet Soul Funk ROLA NM

$

34

Welcome to our Summer 2026 "Classic / Golden" era Soul/Funk/Rare Groove lp sale Part 2 (no modern reissues!) WE COMBINE SHIPPING! -(Just kindly wait till end of auction for invoice :)

90 lp's all originals , many have soundclips, which are from the actual record :)

This week is about classic Sweet Soul Funk dipping heavily into Cosmic Funk; P. Funk & family, Brick, Coalkitchen, Karen Pree, Undisputed Truth, among others..... Rare Groovers, heavy deep funk, harder to find clean OG staples, the rare, obscure, everything curated, by those that love the music, everything we have up, is something we truly dig, and we hope you find some dope ones :)
***We'd be honored if you'd consider saving us as a favorite seller :)***

* After this week's auction, (In no particular order) we have in the auction pipeline:
Classic Golden Era Soul Funk Part II, nearly 80+ lp's, top shelf stuff.....
2nd Modern Soul / Gospel / Boogie / AOR, Part "II"
More Deep Funk / Soul 45rpm 7", as well as AOR / Power Pop / Rock 45rpm 7"
A giant stash of rare Open Drum Breaks, emanating from a variety of groovy genres, the kind of lps both dope / under the radar sale!
A few more cooking, not to mention our exciting, anticipated:
Part 4 "Giant Jazz"; jazz funk, spiritual, fusion, synth jazz underground, etc. sale lp's

*^(Each are loaded with some of the rarest, high end stuff, plenty that haven't shown up in years, unknown mind-blowers, Grail Pieces, like always, all original editions!)



All soundclips used are unedited directly from the item up for sale :). See below for detailed grading!
***Everything is 100% guaranteed! We've sold over 1,500+ records in the past year alone, with 100% positive feedback, bid with confidence :)

Feel free to message any questions!

*Note: Any Item that does not have a soundclip, feel free to message us, and we can make one for you :) 

**Note: for items with multiple players, the title of track is above each player; the player enables scrolling through!**


Soundclip info: A5 "What Good Is A Love Song", B2 "I'm Gonna Stay", b2 begins 2:30   
Soundclip:  Update your internet browser to latest version in order to play audio clip.

Media Grade:  NM (stunning top copy)  
Sleeve Grade:  EX  (promo stamp on back cover, very sharp copy, see photos!)
Year / Label / Catalogue #:   1976  /  RCA Victor  / APL1-1414 "Demonstration Not For Sale" (1st press, Stereo, Promo, "I" Indianapolis pressing, tan labels) 
Brief Comments: A true gem of an album, the one-off debut by veteran soul singer Charles Drain... in many ways reminds me of Sam Dees 1975 lp on Atlantic, Angelo Bond's 1975 ABC lp, or White Heat's 1975 RCA release.... St. Louis, and Chicago area man Charles Drain has a voice, delivery silk icy silk, it's very much in the vein for best of 1973 style "Sweet Soul" / "Soul Funk", it's also the debut production for Kent Washburn (vibraphonist, produced Justin Thyme's rare private jazz-funk grail "Life In A Day" featuring his younger brother Gary), he did have the private press from St. Louis "The Rumor" also under his belt, fantastic jazz-funk....he did production for High Inergy, Major Lance, in-house at Command Records in the 1980's....also the EmKay private press grail 1979 "Free Love" lp, most of those band members are on this Charles Drain release!
Drain was born in a small town in Missouri, spending most of his life in St. Louis, and for a couple years (1966, 1967) in Chicago, he had a 45 release on Checker. He has a couple 45's, but otherwise a scant discography, this being his only lp. He seems to have shared a connection with Oliver Sain along with Kent Washburn, it seems that Sain recommended highly Charles Drain for Washburn's first major label production gig, and RCA was still just reformulating it's R&B / Soul division to calibrate to Disco, so it gave a chance for non-disco soul/funk releases, often one-off's to come to fruition. 
During the RCA meeting he blew away all the executives. Everyone who saw, met him, remembers that intimate presence, of a "very real person, and when he sings you realize that's what he is...Real", the kind of genuine soul who brings the tracks to life, with a most gifted voice, take for example one of the deepest cuts, a sweet raw soul track "What Good Is A Love Song?", a hauntingly beautiful, relatable, cathartic, look at what remains when your love has fled, and your heart feels so vacant, who else could bring that to life, in a way where you feel right there, you feel he's been through it oh boy yes, and he's also singing to anyone else feeling it, it's so...real. A big sleeper cut in Lowrider Soul sets..... "the teardrops aren't tattooed Vato!" as one ABQ deep DJ put it....  The entire album is just one impeccable gem, one of the most criminally underrated major label soul/funk releases (along with Angelo Bond's on ABC, talk about a wild masterpiece...we don't have one for sale, but get that lp while you can, it's his only release, that sounds like some crazy $300 record, but it's super affordable right now, you won't see it in the wild, but online, nab it!). Kent Washburn's production, the members that would go on to make up 1979 "Free Love" on EmKay lp, it's such a refreshing, true, deep blend of sweet soul / funk, that has Philly vibes, New Jersey vibes, St. Louis vibes, even Ohio vibes (Segments of Time on Sussex, you can play cuts off both, that just blend like jelly jam on buttered biscuits). 
It went OOP (out of print) deleted from catalogue virtually on arrival, no charting singles, Drain fortunately had believers at RCA, who released a few singles, hoping to help him break through (the impression he made, was something the RCA brass at the time, never forgot, an excitement shared by even the most jaded A&R rep....), there was a hope he would become a major addition, perhaps their direct rival to Barry White or their own Teddy Pendergrass (before he split from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes), but it just was too disco saturated of an era, people didn't want to think as much, dance away the pain of society they struggled but ultimately failed to significantly change during the 60's..... this one, "Dependable" is aptly named, it's a Dependable cult classic, especially in Japan, where it received it's one and only reissue, a CD only 1995 release (there's a phrase I've heard in Japanese, that is difficult to translate, when describing this lp from heads over in Tokyo, one friend simplified it to "The Real Thing", harmonious soul, but also an adverb implying a sort of spiritual location in which the music is directly touching, reaching the deepest part of being).
Rare as hen's teeth....(fun fact, in the late 80's, some Shibuya diggers in the US thought at first he was "Sweet Charles", of Charles Sherrell from that grail "People" release!).
Peep the soundclips.... Does it really get more real, than "What Good Is A Love Song"? 
That's the caliber of every cut, the realness.... :)







*Tariffs aren't going to impact used vinyl records / music media, we wish they were never in place at all, so for international buyers, don't worry on that account! **Note ^That is in regard to EXTRA ordinary tariffs for political reasons, if you are an international buyer we urge you to contact us prior to shipping for clarity!
For our record grading, we stand by the merits outlined in the scale below, anything VG or below will have a detailed explanation in brackets next to the grade.
For sleeves, we will mention anytime there is split, or defect not visible in the photos in brackets next to the grade, otherwise we refer to the photos for the merit of the grade. Of course any questions, concerns, are always welcome :) 
Our media grading scale is as follows: [*Quick note, our VPI is still in storage on the other side of the US, we do brush clean many  items carefully, but we have to prioritize, we won't leave anyone stranded with a filthy record, only "filthy" good! We don't factor dust particles into the grading]
NM = Essentially a pristine album, like new, rarely used.
EX = Under bright light if there is any scuffs or mark, which will be inaudible, most collectors and sellers would tend to consider it closer to NM, EX is also the grade others might call VG++ under the same level of conservative scrutiny.
VG+ = More then a small handful of scuffs, light marks, nothing feelable, will have high-gloss, a thoroughly enjoyable copy that may only have tiny moments of barely perceptible surface noise overpowered by the music. Our VG+ will satisfy the vast majority of collectors as a nice keeper copy, as collector's ourselves for nearly two decades, this grade is aimed to be a great keeper. Note if say the record has a light DNAP warp, but otherwise is NM, we will automatically put it to VG+ and detail that. Another scenario is if a copy plays at a solid EX, but visually is VG, the composite grade will be VG+, and detailed as such.
VG = More hairlines, more marks, maybe a few visible scratches, no more then two feelable scratches (which automatically lowers to VG-), there likely will be surface noise, but will play through, still being an enjoyable copy, the audio quality will satisfy most collector's (the golden rule: if it doesn't satisfy us, it won't be VG), if a record is otherwise EX, but has a slight momentary skip, where 99% of the record is EX, we will note that, and put it at VG. Usually will retain a nice gloss.
VG- = More Scratches than VG, surface noise will jump out more, it be overpowered for longer stretches, or compete with the music in places, it will likely play all the way through on most turntables, a copy that you can still get a decent play enjoyment from.
G+ = Lots of scratches, deeper ones, surface noise now mostly overpowers or competes with the music. It may skip in some places. We don't tend to sell G+ copies, unless the rarity is so great, and that will be precisely detailed.
Thrashed = Pretty much a "Theoretical Grade" for us, it be for all intents & purposes virtually unplayable, it would be for display purposes, or perhaps if you needed the cover but not the record. It's "theoretical" because so far we haven't sold or identified anything intended to sell at this bottom level.
Every item is guaranteed to YOUR satisfaction, no questions asked, 100% refund. We stand by our integrity, our goal is to make sure you are absolutely delighted with your purchase, to deliver a cherished album to your collection :). On the slightest chance of human error, if we make a mistake, we take accountability for that, we don't anyone to have a record they aren't happy with! Bid with confidence :)
If you have multiple items, please wait for us to combine shipping for you! We can combine up to 4 items for the standard shipping rate, and save you $ on additional items. We don't charge a single penny over what the shipping costs, so you are paying only the amount the postal service receives!
Default shipping is USPS media mail, USPS International mail. If you prefer a different carrier, or expedited shipping, please message us before payment, so we can set up the invoice for you :)
We have it set to 5 day shipping / handling time, as a just in case, typically about 98.7% of our orders are shipped out the day of payment (first day the post office is open), with the vast majority being the second day. We'll message on the extraordinary off-chance if doesn't go out on Tuesday (our auctions mostly ending on Saturdays, Sundays), with the reason and day it will go out, so far that's only happened once on a giant order, and all was well.
Thank you from EnfieldVinyl, a family business, and the auction venture of EnfieldRecords :)
Kindly,
-Alec :D
&
-Ellie :)