Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea opens with a calm, quiet, sadness. An old man, lonely and unlucky in his fishing pursuits, lives on the coast. His life is simple, brightened slightly by his relationship with a young boy who cares for him...

I was on a little Fleetwood Mac kick this week. I’ve always kind of written the genre-shifting band a pass, especially their famous mid-70s hits. They came off as milk toast music made for middle-aged moms and I never really gave them the time of...