Pink Floyd's first studio album in two decades will be without estranged ex-member Roger Waters but one vocalist from their last record is staying on - physicist Stephen Hawking.

Their album, The Endless River, is one of the year's most eagerly anticipated new releases and is due out on November 7.

But credits leaked on the internet list a song with the acclaimed scientist called Talkin' Hawkin'.

Hawking also appeared on the rock legends' last album, The Division Bell, in 1994.

On the song Keep Talking, Hawking's computerised voice begins by saying: "For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination."

The song credits for The Endless River, earlier reported by the music site Consequence of Sound, also showed that keyboardist Richard Wright wrote or co-wrote 12 of the 18 songs even though he died in 2008.

The album does not include Waters - the driving force behind the classic album The Wall in 1979, the year Wright originally left the band.

Waters quit Pink Floyd in 1985 and has been dismissive of his former bandmates' subsequent work.

In a recent posting on Facebook, Waters described Pink Floyd as consisting of remaining band members David Gilmour and Nick Mason.

"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip," Waters wrote.

AFP