Believing that the group's live album Undead (1968) had already perfectly captured their talents, frontman and guitarist Alvin Lee conceived Stonedhenge as a change in direction.

A psychedelic blues album, it expands the group's boogie rock sound into more experimental territory, incorporating jazz, progressive pop and musique concrète styles, with deployment of studio effects, stereo panning and tape manipulation.

The album set the group up for a heavy year of touring and performances at numerous American festivals, including a famous appearance at Woodstock.

After forming in 1965, Ten Years After were distinguished from hardcore blues groups in Britain by mixing the genre with rock and roll and jazz,[1][2] and were part of the burgeoning progressive music scene.

"[3] Ten Years After recorded Stonedhenge at Decca Studios in West Hampstead between 3–15 September 1968,[6][7] working with producer Mike Vernon and engineers Roy Baker and Martin Smith.

[11] According to Beat Instrumental, it is a more of an experimental album than the group's earlier work, deploying "a lot of trickery and studio effects combined with fairly untypical Ten Years After material".

"[16] Alvin Lee wrote that the album was frequently "very experimental" as he was into his "musique concrète phase", noting the strong influence of avant-garde/industrial composer Tod Dockstader on the record.

[12] According to critic Allen Evans, Alvin's vocals "range from the gutbucket to faraway, Oriental sadness, with lead guitar playing to match.

[12] The record is varied in content, spanning rockers and low-key, moody material,[18] and features four short solo pieces for each member alone on their instrument.

[21] The eight-minute "No Title" creates a moody atmosphere for the first half until Alvin plays a "terse, loud extension on its main riff", setting up a ghostly organ solo from Churchill.

[12] According to OffBeat Magazine writer Brett Milano, the song "showed how imaginative blues-rock could get", writing that its "structure—beginning as near silence, with instruments being added until it turns to a harsh electronic wail—isn’t far from the studio art that the likes of Brian Eno would popularize later on.

"[11] Correlating the music and the site, journalist Rory O'Connor says that Stonedhenge "seemed to be an attempt at tuning in cosmic vibrations, perhaps because [Alvin] Lee has a feeling for the strange atmosphere that the ancient Druid ruins at Stonehenge reportedly has hanging round it.

[23] In 1985, archaeologist Christopher Chippindale borrowed the title Stonedhenge for his review of that year's ill-fated summer solstice celebrations at the stone circle and the Battle of the Beanfield.

[23] In 1999, Adam Sweeting of The Guardian described the album title as "uncannily far-seeing", due to the emergence of an academic theory that Stonehenge was designed as a venue for worshippers to enter "shamanistic trances" to "travel through time and space to visit their ancestral spirits.

[34] According to Rough Guides writer Chris Coe, the inclusion of their performance of "I'm Going Home" in the companion film Woodstock (1970) catapulted the band to "superstar status".

[25] In a contemporary four-star review, New Musical Express writer Allen Evans deemed Stonedhenge to be "a most ear-worthy effort, varied in content and all self-written", and contended that the group "could go places".

He praised the scat singing on "Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob" and Lyons' bass work on "Faro", while describing Churchill's organ and piano solos as "real knock-outs".

[13] Alan Jones of Lincolnshire Echo called it an "electrifying" album that showcases the band's talents, including Alvin Lee's "lightning guitar solos".

"[36] Journal and Courier writer Frank Arganbright called it a progressive blues album which "actually swings", and considered it "a good English jam ... flirting with different bags and coming up with a nice tight sound."

"[3] Alan Clayson of Record Collector considered "Hear Me Calling" and "Speed Kills" to be among the album's highlights, while noting that listeners in a "perverse mood" would instead favour "Three Blind Mice".

[45] A remastered version appeared in 2002 with liner notes from Ric Lee and four bonus tracks, including a single edit of "I'm Going Home" and the 15-minute "Boogie On".