Customer Reviews
You need to hear this... you really do. - By: MikeH, 28 Apr 2008 
This as hands down one of the most astonishing recordings I have ever heard. I bought it knowing a bit about tango, & a bit about Piazzolla, but regardless of that, this is incredible music. The music itself is gorgeous - dark, beautiful, ominous, brooding & deeply passionate. The playing is beyond compare - laser precise & yet at the same time gritty & rough. This is very much a band effort, & what a band - they swing, caress & whip up thunder.
Apparently this angered the tango puristsin Argentina, as did much of Piazzollas output, & I can see why - this is modern, vital music, with clear influences from jazz, classical music & even the rush of punk. I must emphasise that you do not need to know much about tango to enjoy this, & also that this is so far removed from safe "world" music as to bein the next galaxy.
If you want to hear the raw emotional power & deep passion that music is capable of expressing, listen to this.
Wonderful contemporary composition and musicianship - By: Gerald Seeley, 12 Jan 2006 Astor Piazzolla's music is the apotheosis of the tango as the toughest & most tender of all dance musics. It is the embodiment of Shostakovich's take on (jewish) folk music as expressing laughter through tears & despair through dance. Tango, tragedia, comedia, kilombo (whorehouse). Those four words that are repeatedin the opening "tanguedia III" remain relevant for the album's duration... & yet, "tango zero hour" is so much more; it is the final touch of the ineffable that defines all great music & makes it accessible to all. With thatin mind, it seems appropriate to cut this review short with one final encouragement to pick up this album as a wonderful example of contemporary composition & musicianship.
Absolutely stunning - By: Mr. Rgs Draycott, 12 Jan 2006 THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S TANGO..., ...but your father might have liked it, if he listened with an open mind. For me - this is absolutely one of the most stunning recordings I've ever heard. Piazzolla (bandoneón) & the musicians he assembled for this quintet (Fernando Suárez Paz, violin; Pablo Ziegler, piano; Horacio Malvicino, Sr., guitar; & Héctor Console, bass) gave the performances of their collective lifetimes when they made this album, recordedin NYCin May of 1986. It is the zenith of Piazzolla's career - & that's saying a lot, considering the contributions he made to musicin his lifetime.
The music is nuevo tango - the traditional soul of tango, full of the emotion that it has always carried (and with which it carries its listeners & dancers), charged & reborn with all of the grit & grime that exists 'at street level'. Gosh - if the tangos we're used to hearing & seeingin the old films made your grandmother blush, this would most certainly put her on the floorin a dead faint. The music is intricately composed - but at the same time, it is FELTin the depths of the soul. There is nothing whatsoever cold & emotionless about it. The musicians themselves are of the highest caliber - some are classically trained, some have their rootsin jazz, but they are all under the spell of Piazzolla's vision. The quiet passages purr & stroke the senses, the more strident ones will pick the listener up & toss them around. The music will make you want to close your eyes & drift away one moment, then have you sweating the next.
Piazzolla made one more recording with this group, LA CAMORRA, & one featuring some of the same players (but not all of them), THE ROUGH DANCER AND THE CYCLICAL NIGHT (based on a story by the great Argentinean literary master Jorge Luis Borges). These two are very, very good - but ZERO HOUR is his greatest.
A dark and different beat - By: ilse@havergal.demon.co.uk, 09 Aug 2000 
I thought I'd get sunny Latin rhythms for dancing about toin my living room... but this is dark & intriguing music. There are fast pieces with that classic, off-the-beat tango rhythm on accordian, but laced with a sinister-sounding violin accompaniment. Plus slow & melancholy tunes with piano & guitar, strange harmonies. Too dark for a dinner party, but if you want to encounter something newin world music, try this out.
