Yeah but John had gone 8 years without producing anything of much merit. POB and Imagine are very good (though Imagine is already quite a step down from POB), Some Time In New York City is embarrassing and it never really recovers.
He gave himself 5 years ‘off’, during which Paul is still putting out good work, though it declines as the 70s wears on. Comes back with an album half made up of dreck Yoko wrote, and a quarter with rubbish he wrote. Five years and he came out with maybe 3 songs to add to the canon, none of which are close to his classic work.
As for picking up after? You heard the stuff for Milk and Honey I assume? Living On Borrowed Time is John attempting reggae with a cod Jamaican accent which frankly makes my toes curl in embarrassment for him. And that’s arguably the best song on there.
I'd say Mind games is only a slight step down from Imagine as a album and would rank Walls and Bridges as being just as good if not better so no I don't really agree.
Yes, Milk and Honey largely looked like Starting Over part 2 in quality, but Lennon was always in artist that looked for inspiration based on hat he was experiencing around him and seemed to produce his best work during times of great tribulation and change in his life. Domestic bliss with Yoko after years off to get rusty is hardly conductive to a great album, but those circumstances would change and he'd get back into his groove eventually.
Like compare McCartney's first five albums to the 5 Lennon produced. If Paul had been the one to drop dead after Venus and Mars we might be having this same conversation as after all:
McCartney is mostly a chronicle of a man having a nervous breakdown that, while it does have a certain down beat charm only really produced a single genuine classic in Maybe I'm Amazed.
Ram is actually really damn good, one of his best solo stuff.
Wild Life is representative of Paul's tendency to do just "ok" albums and seemingly making stuff just because he likes making it.
Red Rose Speedway is just a disaster from start to finish.
Band on the Run is his best solo album
Venus and Mars is...alright. Doesn't come out much better then Lennon to be honest.