Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive! was his best album. Never came close to improving beyond it.
Christopher Cross got 5 grammys for his debut album Christopher Cross. Never worth a crap after that. His second album sold ok, but nothing like the first.
I have to concur. So far as there is a consensus, AFTP usually edges out Murmur as the best album, in my experience with R.E.M. fans and music message boards in general. Even just doing a random google search right now for “best R.E.M. album,” most sites I found have AFTP on top.
Personally, I’m not much of an R.E.M. fan, but I do prefer Murmur.
IOW, by the same token, not The Tokens.
I can’t disagree with your argument, but …
5/12/1967: Are You Experienced? released
9/18/1970: Jimi Hendrix dies
Maybe I’m working from the wrong definition of “enduring.”
The Go-Go’s: Beauty and the Beat. Of course, they’ve only put out 3 original albums since then, but they’re still touring.
I’ll get some argument, but I also think Blondie’s first eponymously-titled album is their best.
I’m actually seeing them tonight 
I’d argue Suzanne Vega never equaled her first album, but her style changed so much from album to album that’s something that’s really a matter of taste.
Yes - you would get some argument. Parallel Lines.
This is getting too easy. Her only 2 hits were off her second album - including her signature song.
The best example of this I can think is Blue Rodeo. They have put out 12 albums and are rock and roll* icons in Canada, but their debut album, “Outskirts,” is still their best (in my opinion), with one of my all-time favourite songs on it, Try.
*They’re not exactly rock, but I don’t really know how else to define them.
The Cars (1978)
For me the following artist have a debut album which is also their best:
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes (I don’t count Y Kant Tori Read, I think of them as a seperate act)
Daft Punk - Homework
John Lennon - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (depends on whether you count the experimental trilogy with Yoko)
Nas - Illmatic
I was going to say Eminem but then remembered The Slim Shady LP was not his debut.
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp! - 1979
Cool! I’ve got tickets for the Vancouver show.
I don’t think it stands up as well as Blondie. Parallel Lines sounds like it was recorded in the Seventies. Blondie still sounds as fresh as it did in 1976.
Cowboy Junkies – The Trinity Session (1988)
+1
2nd album
Ozzy - Blizzard was perfect…
It was far from his first album, though–he made four studio albums prior to Comes Alive.