Upon release, Boulders was hailed by critics for its individual sound and the extensive contributions from Wood, and today is regarded as one of his stronger works.

"[5] With the exception of harmonium by Abbey Road engineer John Kurlander on "Songs of Praise", all the instrumentation on Boulders was played by Wood, who also provided all lead, harmony and backing vocals.

A total of nineteen instruments are credited to Wood, including cello, steel guitar, mandolin, cittern, bouzouki, double bass, saxophones, brass and bassoon.

[5] Making use of a nascent production trick, the musician slowed down or sped up the tape while recording background vocals for some songs to expand his already large singing range.

[13] The record also features luscious West Coast-style harmonies[12] and instances of studio trickery and surreal humour,[11] embracing what writer Terry Staunton describes as a quaint, curious Englishness.

[7] According to writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "Wood has an unerring knack for melodies, whether they're in folk ballads, sweet pop or old-fashioned rock & rollers, yet his brilliance is how he turns the hooks 180 degrees until they're gloriously out of sync with his influences and peers.

There's a straight jig (Irish Loafer), a Zappa-like spoof on a love-sick computer, a hillbilly banjo pickin' song and a rock 'n' roll medley (and that's just one side!)"

[8] The song's unusual percussion was provided by Wood splashing his hands rhythmically in two bowls of water, which were mic'ed up in stereo sound.

[10] Side two opens with a medley of "All the Way Over the Hill" and "Irish Loafer (And His Hen)", an upbeat recording with Beach Boys-style backing vocals.

[5] Writer Micahel Bonner highlighted the song for its experimental nature, describing it as a "Monty Python does Fairport Convention distorted oddity".

[14] The musician had previously attempted recording "She's Too Good for Me" in 1968 with Move bandmate Trevor Burton, before re-recording the song entirely himself for Boulders.

[20][21] Despite being completed in 1971, Boulders was delayed for release until 1973 due to Wood's busy schedule with the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and then Wizzard.

[28] Pete Butterfield of the Reading Evening Post highlighted the numerous roles Wood undertook, calling it "a real solo effort", and described the "glorious" pop album as "highly interesting – and very enjoyable".

Though he complained about the production, finding Wood's voice to be deliberately "often almost drowned by the instruments", he felt the musicianship was impressive and that the album was easy to admire considering the "ingenuity and sheer hard graft" required to make it.

[8] Dave Lewis of the Acton Gazette found Boulders to be "no musical masterpiece, but an enjoyable pantomime of different styles, with Wood playing all the roles",[15] while Gary Sperrazza of the Shakin' Street Gazette felt that it spotlighted Wood's "highly distinctive style of music", concluding that the album "stands alone in its own sphere as a bonafide masterpiece".

[13] Nancy Erlich of The New York Times hailed Boulders as "an unquestionable classic of AM radio culture", writing that it culminates "all the technical feats and structural conventions that characterized sixties pop".

[31] A feature in Hi-Fi News and Record Review considered the "stunning" album to be a "long-lost, curelly overlooked masterpiece", highlighting its "[p]erfect pop pastiches, including the best-ever impression of the Beach Boys",[36] while Uncut magazine's Ultimate Record Collection describes Boulders as a summation of Wood's career and "a one-man hymn to the redemptive power of pop music".