Prime Quality Beef offers a smorgasbord selection of live recordings and studio outtakes from disparate points in Captain Beefheart’s career. Much of the material included here comes from the radio broadcast of a 1974 Kansas City concert. The Captain draws much of his set from his controversial, supposedly “commercial” Unconditionally Guaranteed album. During the show, Beefheart howls and growls his way through such smoldering tunes as “Upon the My O My,” “Keep On Rubbing,” “Full Moon Hot Sun” and “Crazy Little Thing.” The dreamy “This Is the Day’ and a off-the-cuff version of “Sweet Georgia Brown” offer a chance for the Magic Band to soften the mood a bit. The studio cuts mostly date back to Beefheart’s tenure with Blue Thumb Records in the late ‘60s; “Gimme Dat Harp Boy” and an alternate version of “Beatle Bones & Smokin’ Stones” are presented without the studio effects that marred them when they first appeared on the Strictly Personal album. These archival odds and ends provide some tasty morsels to a committed Beefheart fan.