He looks coolly confident, ostensibly well accustomed to The Experience of The Interview. Hair tinted unfashionably with wispy gold and blue hues, he's wearing large square spectacles, presenting a somewhat subtle cross between Cliff Richard librarian mums and dads appeal and Elton John outlandishness. 

But hold on. Wait a minute. Do I detect some slight nervousness, a little apprehension in those eyes? Is Bolan, after all this time, still dubious about talking to the Press? 

"No, not at all dubious, not in the least," Bolan says in reassuring tones. "When I first started out with Tyrannosaurus Rex the press were always very nice to me - no-one ever understood me, but it was quite nice, they helped to give me exposure. And then 'Ride A White Swan' happened and I suddenly became very sellable, it was very fashionable to use my face on the cover of everything. 

Bullshit 

"The trouble is that they - we'll, it's not a question of they, I don't want to point this at ordinary people - shall I say the media believes that it creates you. It's thought that once you become big-time then you consider yourself above everyone else. People have a tendency to think, well, you've got a big white shiny Rolls-Royce now and I▓m only earning 20 quid a week and I made you a star and it isn't fair so they rip you down. It happens all the time. 

"I still think that, regardless of what anybody writes in the papers, it's good to have the space. I've always got something interesting to say as long as the right person asks the right questions. Alright, so I went through a period of time when I didn't want to say anything to the papers, but I think every artist goes through that..." 

I had the impression, I sub-mitted diplomatically, that Bolan had been getting rather upset with - uh - certain things that were being said. "Was I? I mean I'm not aware of it. Nothing really bothers me. The only time I can remember getting really hurt was just after 'Swan' broke. One paper wrote that it was 'teenybopper trash', whereas in the previous week's edition I had been an underground hero. That I couldn't quite get together in my head." 

Level out 

Old Boley, as you probably know, is a bit of a bullshitter - although this didn't make itself immediately apparent until after I'd transcribed the cassette tape and looked at his words in cold type. He's also rather boastful and loves to extol himself. All part of his charm however, you may say. 

Today, he's actually in a jocular mood, his mind brimful with new projects, some completed, several half-finished, but most of which will probably never see the light of day. 

Progressively, the interview took on a jumbled, disorganised, almost stream of consciousness quality. It would make sense to present it all in (virtually) unedited form - giving an insight into the intricate workings of The Bolan. 

To what do you attribute your staying power? I asked. After all, you've managed to remain in the limelight, in relative prominence for some six years now. People have prophesied your doom fre-quently... 

"People were saying that I was done for even from the time when 'Debora' first came out." 

But surely, at that time, there wasn't any doom worth prophesising. "Well, I mean, I agree, I don't know... a lot of people like what I do, a lot of people don't. Musically, all I want to do is play what I want to hear. I'm very fortunate in that people want to hear what I want to play. I'll keep on doing that, so I think I'll always be successful. 

"It has its degrees. Through '71 and '72 I was much newer and fresher than I am now, and I hit a big peak. Now I've levelled out. I'm still here. I enjoy what I do, it's as simple as that. I try not to put out a bad product you know, but records sometimes sneak out which I don't like at all and tend to be big hits." Such as? 

⌠ ▒Solid Gold Easy Action' sold 750.000 copies and I hated it. It sounds like the speed record of all time. It's too fast, but there you go, there you are. 'To what do you attribute your staying power■ you asked. I haven't really answered the question." 

I made the point that the lyrics in recent Bolan songs such as 'New York City' have been sadly lacking when compared to his earlier compositions. 

"I don't really consider the Tyrannosaurus Rex stuff to be lyrically that different. I mean 'Debora' didn't have any words at all, apart from 'you look like a zebra' and your 'sunken face is like a galleon▓ what was it? Whereas 'Teenage Dream' has very intricate lyrics." 

But they were far removed from, say, any of the songs on the 'Unicorn' album. 

"During the Tyrannosaurus Rex period of my life I was not only living in an attic but also living in my own head. Now I've been all over the world, and I have to deal with the business side of things. 

Garbage 

"For singles, I do try to pick out things that are perhaps easier to understand, less intricate than most. 'New York City' was unlacing, actually, just that one image of a woman with a frog in her hand. I think that's amazing, don't you?" 

Far out. 

" 'Futuristic Dragon', my new album, isn't simple at all. You'll find that the lyrics of at least four of the tracks are very complex. Especially one called 'Casual Agent▓ which is, well I can't really give references, but it's like the equivalent of the 'Scenescof Dynasty' from the early days. The words on this album - comes out in January, by the way - are much more involved. Sometimes I get into words, sometimes I don't. It depends what sort of mood I'm in, you know. 

"I played the first Tyrannosaurus Rex album recently and then wrote about 10 songs in the slime style just to show myself that I could still do it. 'The high woods filled with the bones of broken gods'... I wrote that the other day, it's a lovely line, isn't it? 

"You see, my idea of rock and roll is the ultimate for me is that subterranean homesick blues feel. Surrealistic rock and roll, that's what I like, that's what I've always wanted to do. I think I got close to it when I wrote the line 'cloak full of eagles'. It's a great idea, you open up a cloak and it's full of golden eagles...■ 

I mentioned that one of my favourite Bolan lines was 'daubed in doom in a tongue-tombed room'. 

"From 'Catblack', right? That, lyrically, is a great song actually. I know what you mean. That was my word game period, my 'Warlock Of Love' time, I must admit that I'm leaning back towards that sort of stuff. I write a lot of stories now, many more than In the old days and in fact much better. I want to put those images down on film now, there are hundreds of them up here," pointing to his head, "just itching to get out. I think I'll soon be exploring cinematic techniques. 

"I mean, how can I honestly sit down and think that in the past I've been compared to David Cassidy? I've written some great lyrics and people say that it's all mindless garbage. Why, even  William Blake would have grooved on my lyrics, you know. But I try not to let it get at me, I've got millions of things upcoming. I've got a great story called 'Future Man Buick', which is incredible, it may be done as a movie." 

The old fixation with cars coming to the surface again. "Yeah, I haven't been into cars for years. I'll have to get back into cars." 

I steer the conversation back around the forthcoming LP 'Futuristic Dragon'. Apparently, this is but one or four albums that Bolan has recently recorded. 

"They're not all mine." he stresses, "there are two of mine, one of Gloria's and one of Gloria's brother. The last two are soul albums. Gloria's also done a version of 'Get It On' actually. which should be available in January. 'Dragon' is the first of my albums, the second one. I'm sure much to your glee, is a very intricate science fiction story, full of more imagery than you've heard on any album ever. It's a combination of the 'Children Of Rarn' album, which in fact I never recorded, and '2001' and 'Clockwork Orange', all sort of squashed together. It's got some amazing characters, places, worlds, planets, galaxies... everything stuck in there. It's take you days to get through it, there's a huge booklet enclosed with the album, it's an immense work. It's not a concept album as such, just a story set to music with a lot of images. I think it will be important, an important album. 

Lunatic 

"I'll be putting out a lot of product this year and next. I've been more or less away from the scene completely for the past two years, writing all this new stuff I suppose. 

"I might be doing something with Marvel Comics as well, they might be using some of my characters. I first talked to Stan Lee when the Conan The Barbarian weekly comic first came out in Britain. Stan doesn't really like Conan that much, did you know? My Electric Warrior character was meant to be a sort of Conan actually, except that he didn't follow the conventional boring barbarian pattern. 

"The Silver Surfer was always my hero though. In fact, I used him in a song, didn't I? Was it 'Wind Quartets'? I've always liked Michael Moorcock as well, though he tends to be a little flimsy with his heroes. I've always liked his character... oh, what was his name, Elric is it?" 

Elric Of Melnibone. 

"Yeah. He's exactly like Johnny Winter, have you ever thought that? Exactly. I toyed with actually giving up music and concentrating on writing 'Sword And Sorcery' tales at one time. I've got a book coming out in the New Year called 'Wilderness Of The Mind' in fact, containing recollections, science fiction stories, horror stories - I was very into Arthur Machen and H. P. Lovecraft a while back..." 

By now, I was very confused. Bolan seemed incoherent, going round and round and round in ever decreasing circles. His mind seemed to be travelling in a million different directions at the same time. 

"I'm afraid it is." Bolan admits, "afraid it is. That's the problem with me, you see. I'm a lunatic."